As the months get colder, one of the things I look forward to is the return of the birds to my garden. There’s a derelict property over the back that homes all manner of wildlife with foliage almost tall enough to block the view of the house itself. It’s like my own private wood. I coax the birds out of the trees with a variety of tempting snacks, ranging from hot water softened mealworms (yummy) to apple slices with cheese cubes. One of the most popular treats is a homemade (or should I say home-improved) fat ball. I buy cheap, rock-hard fat balls and pulverise them with a hammer. This is best done inside a carrier bag, unless you like pieces of seedy fat landing in your coffee! I’ll sling the crumbs in a big pan with a chunk of lard and heat it through, adding generous handfuls of mixed seed and dried fruit. I’ll shake a bit of flour into the pan so it’s more like a squidgy pastry and roll it into balls once cooled. It’s incredible how many starlings you can actually fit around a feeder once these go out in the garden.

Corinne x

Felt Robin
I have a very tame robin that has come to expect a scattering of mealworms whenever I go outside and gives me a very hard stare if I neglect him. I love robins, so I’ve made a trio of cheery chaps to sit by the window.

1 Using these templates, cut one oval from pale felt and two from brown. Trim a smaller oval from red felt and stitch to the centre of the pale piece. Cut a triangle of brown felt and sew the bottoms of the ovals to each side.

2 Fold them up and sew the pale one between the two brown pieces. Sew up 4cm on the back, before sandwiching a folded tail between the brown ovals and continuing the seam. Leave a 4cm gap at the top of the head to stuff with fibre filling and close up the gap.

3 Cut a tiny diamond shape from orange felt, fold in half and sew to the front to make a beak. Add tiny brown beads to either side of the head for eyes. Glue a penny to the triangular base to weight it slightly and keep the bird upright.

Love Corinne’s Christmas makes? Check out this fab concertina card project.