Today I had a random urge to make a bird-feeder. So I did. Here's

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Ingredients:

1 large (2 litre) clear rectangular bottle which tapers to the cap at the top (I used a squash bottle)

1 pencil

Lots (2m at least) string

A convenient thing to fix it to outside your window (ie drainpipe)

Birdseed

Sharp knife (WARNING - be careful and get an adult to help you. I did. My mate)

*Remove any labels from the bottle so it's as clear as possible (so you can see birds through it)

*Take knife and cut front panel out of one side of the bottle. Have this an inch or so from the bottom to about 3-4 inches from the top.

*KEEP THIS PANEL SAFE - you need it later smile

*Cut a cross in the sides of the bottle, one either side of where the panel you cut out meets the bottle. You're aiming to push the pencil through these to make a perch for the birds about half an inch above the bottom of the open section you cut.

*Push the pencil through

Now take the panel you cut out. Very carefully cut a tab into one of the long edges by removing a section from either side of where the tab will be:

LONG EDGE OF PANEL

BEFORE = ______________________

AFTER = _____\----------------------/____

(Hope that's clear.. so you've basically got a trapezoid projecting out of the back of the panel)

*Cut a slot slightly smaller than the long edge og the tab in the front of the feeder, just above the open section.

*Slot the panel into this. Then reach inside and bend the corners down. This will help keep snow/rain out of the feeder and stop the food from getting wet. You may want to cut the corners of this so it's nice and rounded.. it looks a bit better if you do smile

*Make some more little crosses at various points towards the back of the bottle. In a minute you'll thread the string through these, so try and make some near the top of the rectangular section of the bottle, and some near the bottom.

*Very carefully (if you're doing it out of a window) tie the bottle to whatever you're tying it to. try and get a few loops around the lip beneath the lid of the bottle, and make sure you tie it at the top of the bottle and the bottom so the bottle sits as vertically as possible.

*Tie it very firmly. You don't want it to slip down to the floor, nor do you want it to fall off and hurt any birds who are in it frown

So be careful!

When it's done.. enjoy! biggrin

Right, that's killed 20 minutes. What else can I do before my essay? ubblol

What a wonderful miracle if only we could look through each other's eyes for an instant.
Thoreau

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