Rita Hill demonstrated a simple technique for making a bird feeder and a birdbath for your garden.

You'll need: bamboo or long, straight, stout prunings from the garden river pebbles 2 shallow dishes (such as terracotta pot plant bases or shallow bowl-shaped pots), 1 with a drainage hole (for the bird feeder)

What to do

Cut the bamboo or prunings into eight pieces, each 1.5m long. Use string to tie the bamboo or prunings into two bundles of four (tie the bundles about a third of the way down). Splay the legs so that you have two stands, one for the feeder and one for the birdbath. (Tip: Rita used some fake vine to dress up the stands and hide the twine.) Place the dishes on top of the stands. Fill one with seed (after placing a stone over the drainage hole) and fill the other with water.

Rita's tips

Birdbaths should be shallow, otherwise small birds can drown. Fill deep dishes with rinsed river pebbles to leave only around 50mm water depth. Keep the birdbath topped up with clean water and scrub dishes regularly to keep them clean. Keep the seed in the bird feeder fresh - wet or stale seed can poison birds so it should be changed daily. Avoid using seed mixes containing safflower or sunflower seeds, which attract cockatoos. Cockatoos can do a lot of damage to structures and large trees. Place the birdbath and the bird feeder in a position out of the weather and out of the reach of predators like cats.

Further information

Bamboo can be cut from a garden clump, or purchased from cane and bamboo suppliers and some garden centres.

Copyright CTC Productions 2001