During the coldest days of the year here are a few tips on how to make bird feeders that help birds survive the winter.

The coldest days of the year are the hardest to cope with for many bird species that live in our cities or gardens.

As the LIPU (Italian Association for Bird Protection) reports: "Our cities with their 'blanket of warmth' have a temperature of at least two degrees more than woods and the countryside and they attract many bird species which we can observe, learn to know and protect".

Here are a few tips to easily build a few bird feeders with recycled materials. We can place them in our gardens, balconies or hedge. "During the winter – explains the LIPU – many birds eat a more varied and mainly omnivorous diet. That's why a feeder can attract different species and this experiment will be successful depending on the food it provides".

PLASTIC BOTTLE

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Maybe this is the easiest to create. You just need to take a plastic bottle, clean it and make two small holes where you will insert two pencils or ladles. Then you can fill the bottle with mixed bird feed you find at the pet shop.

ORANGE

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This is also easy to realize and it is even compostable. After our daily orange juice we can use the peel as a container for the birds' favourite feed. By stuffing it with cheese rind we can draw goldcrests, wrens, blackbirds, robins.

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TETRA PAK

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For this feeder you just need a clean carton of milk or juice. Cut a rectangle in one of the largest sides and insert here the feed. At the bottom of the rectangle insert two sticks to support the carton. To hang it up you just need to tie a piece of twine to the top of the carton. If you put sunflower seeds into it, you can attract finches, greenfinches, titmice, and nuthatches.

SEED BALLS

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To create this feeder you just need a lemon net, margarine or butter and a few seeds or peanuts. Melt the margarine or butter and knead it with peanuts or crumbled biscuits. Make a few balls and keep them into the fridge so that they solidify. This will be a tasty snack for titmice or goldfinches.

PLASTIC TANK

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The procedure to realize this feeder is similar to the Tetra Pak's one, but this one is bigger and it could contain more sunflower seeds and it could be home to more birds. It is perfect to be hanged on the branches of the trees in your garden or in a park.

COFFEE CAN

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It takes only few minutes to prepare this feeder. You will need a coffee can, a pair of scissor to cut the top and a screwdriver to punch holes in the metal and a piece of twine to hang the feeder up. You can even cut the top in half. The important thing is to give a support base for the bird. If filled with fresh fruit, this feeder will draw blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, chickadees, robins and blue tits.

TOILET ROLL

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Preparing this feeder will be a fun even for children. To stick the seeds you can even use butter at room temperature or peanut butter. You can insert this among the branches, shrubs or small trunks.

OLD BOOT

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If you have to throw away an old pair of shoes why don't you nail them to a tree instead? They can serve as a bird feeder and a couple of birds can nest there. Creative.

OLD TEAPOT

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To make this feeder, you just need an old teapot, a plate, an old umbrella handle and glue. We can even put some pieces of meat or fat into it to attract titmice, starlings, robins, blackbirds, thrushes.

SPRING

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In this case we can use the old toys of the '90s: slinkies. You can fasten the spring ends and fill the spring with peanuts to attract birds and squirrels.

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