These are fun to make and it’s so enjoyable watching hungry birds eat them in the winter. You’ll find glucose syrup in the baking section of your supermarket. You’ll also need a 10cm flowerpot, a 90cm length of string and some wax paper.
Ingredients
For the home-made birdseed bells
- 1½ cups mixed birdseed
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon gelatine
- 1 tablespoon glucose syrup
Method
For the home-made birdseed bells
- Prepare a 10cm flowerpot by lining it with wax paper.
- Use a pencil to poke a hole through the wax paper, lining up with the hole at the bottom of the pot.
- Fold a 90cm length of string in half and push the folded end through the hole in the paper and the pot. Pull it through until you have a 10cm loop sticking out of the bottom of the pot.
- Mix the birdseed with the flour and set aside
- Place the water in a glass measuring jug and microwave for 30 seconds until hot.
- Mix in the gelatine and stir well to dissolve.
- Add the glucose syrup and mix well.
- Pour into the birdseed mixture and stir to combine.
- Transfer to the flowerpot, holding the string up straight as you spoon the mixture around it. Pat the mixture down well.
- Place in the freezer for an hour to harden up.
- Pull up on the wax paper to remove the birdseed bell from the flowerpot. Trim the remaining string pieces under the bell.
- You may want to let your birdseed bell set for about a week to thoroughly harden and dry before hanging in a tree outdoors.