All credit for this goes to my beautiful friend Sophie; this a great project to do with kids and it helps encourage birds to the garden, thereby further encouraging said kids to love the wildlife in their world. You can make these all through late Autumn, Winter and early Spring; times when our feathered friends could do with a bit of fattening up. Don't forget to put out fresh water too, and to break the ice on it if it gets too frosty.

Take an orange and halve it, scooping out the fruit (and enjoying it in the process, naturally) before making two holes on either side and tying on a string handle. Put some newspaper down on the table, take a large lump of lard or bacon fat at room temperature and a handful of bird seed and mix together with a spoon. Fill the orange half with the mix and then hang from a high point in the garden, close enough for viewing, far enough for peace for the birds and high enough to evade the local cats.