Here is an easy way to get children cooking and appreciating bird life. Bird pudding is simple to make and it brings great joy to our feathered friends. The base of a good bird pudding is suet (animal fat). This can be bought from your local butcher.

Directions:

• Melt the fat in a pot on the stove and then add some of the following ingredients: seeds, bread and cake crumbs, nuts and any other kitchen scraps. Avoid uncooked vegetables – these decompose too quickly.
• Pour small quantities of the mixture into moulds (tin cans are ideal) and store in the freezer.
• Insert a dowel stick in the middle of the mixture just before it sets.
• Take out as needed by removing the bird pudding from the moulds.
• Hang up your bird pudding or fix to a tree and allow the birds to peck at it from all sides.

Attracting Birds to your Garden in Southern Africa by Roy Trendier and Lex Hex.