We all love to hear the sound of birds in the garden and the sight of butterflies, but few of us design a garden that attracts them. The good news is that you don't have to dig out all your roses or other exotic plants in favour of indigenous plants. Just ensure that at least a portion of the garden contains plants and other facilities to encourage urban "wildlife" into the garden.
An excellent way to attract birds to your garden is to offer them food, places to nest, lots of water and a bird bath or two so they can have their daily bath.
Different birds have different food choices. If you offer something for seed eaters, nectar feeders and fruit eaters you're well on your way to providing birds with a welcome habitat as well as hours of enjoyment for yourself.
I'm always thinking of new ways to attract birds and the other day, while I was throwing away yet ANOTHER toilet roll core, I decided that there must be some use for it (I already use them in various ways around the house - to store used wrapping paper, as a hold-all for my art equipment and storing computer cables, an idea I found on the internet). I already had a jug of seeds for the bird tables in my hand, so off to the kitchen I went, smeared some honey all over the core and rolled it in some seeds and voila! a lovely snack ready to be pushed over a twig on a tree for the birds to enjoy!
Toilet roll cores snipped on one edge, folded open and stuck onto a board - perfect for all my art brushes and pens and pencils
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