Bird seed cakes – how to make your own

Keep your garden birds happy throughout the winter by feeding them and they'll be back to nest in your garden next spring!

You will need:

Biscuit cutters or empty yoghurt pots
String and scissors
Bowl and spoon
Birdseed, nuts, raisins
Grated cheese
Lard or suet

1. Mix your ingredients

Aiming for equal quantities of each, put the birdseed, nuts, raisins, grated cheese and lard or suet into the bowl. There's no need to melt the lard or suet before you mix it – just make sure it's at room temperature and cut into small pieces. Mix it all together well.

2. Prepare your moulds

Place your cutters flat on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. If you're using pots, make a small hole in the base of each one. Take a metre of string, make a knot about 2cm from one end then poke the string through the hole in the pot so the knot is inside.

3. Fill your moulds

Spoon your birdseed mixture into each prepared cutter or pot, pressing it down evenly. Poke a hole through the mixture in each cutter near one edge to make a hole for the string. Fill as many moulds as you can until all the mixture has been used up. Place the filled moulds in the fridge and leave to chill throughly.

4. Hang your fat cakes outside

When the mixture has set, you can press out the shapes from the biscuit cutters or cut the plastic pot away from the cake with scissors. Thread string through the hole and hang up a cake outside. Use just one at a time, keeping the others in the fridge until needed.

Hang from a tree or bird table – the cake might start to break up in wet weather but once the birds get a taste it won't last long!