Birds are the easiest creatures to spot in a garden and in many ways the most interesting, since they are always on the move. You can ensure a good complement of birds in your garden by providing them with food, water and shelter. Birds will naturally catch children's attention, but you can encourage them to take more notice by involving them in bird-related activities. The RSPB provides a wealth of useful information on birds, and many of the links on this page take you to locations on their web site.

Food
A bird table is not essential, but it will provide a focus for activity, helps to keep food off the ground where it might attract rats, and if sited fairly close to the house will ensure a good view of feathered visitors. You can easily buy one, or save a bit of money and perhaps engage practically-minded children in the enterprise my making your own.

Birds will take a wide variety of foods. The RSPB gives a useful list of options you can buy here, but you can also put out a variety of household scraps, such as bread, fats, cheese and fruit. Children can enjoy making their own gooey bird food mixes, which can be smeared onto cones or stuffed into coconut shells and hung from the table or from tree branches. See the guide here. There is a special interest in watching to see what is attracted to food you have made for yourself.

Of course birds will also take natural food from plants in your garden. Shrubs and trees with berries, such as rowan, hawthorn and pyracantha are a favourite, teasels will often attract goldfinches. BBC Gardeners World provides a list of some bird-friendly food plants here.

Water
Birds need water for drinking and bathing and the easiest way to provide it is in a bird bath. Any shallow container heavy enough to resist taking off on a windy day will do the trick. If your garden is frequented by cats then a raised bath will be best. It is entertaining to watch birds bathing, so site your bath somewhere you can easily see them. An alternative to a bird bath is a pond with a shallow side. This has many other advantages for wildlife, especially insects and amphibians, and need not be very large. See our Minipond activity for more information on making a small pond.

Shelter and nesting
For most of the year many birds sleep at night sitting on a branch somewhere they feel safe - this is called "roosting". However, during the spring birds pair up and build a nest in which they lay eggs and raise their young. If you want to observe nesting birds it is worth installing a nest box in your garden. This is best fixed to a tree trunk where it is easily visible but out of direct sunlight (north- or east-facing is best). The classic nest box with a small hole for entry is most likely to be used by blue or great tits. Larger birds, like blackbirds, will build a nest in bushes or trees. Evergreen shrubs provide especially popular locations, and will also be used for roosting outside the nesting season. Children will enjoy watching birds collect nesting material, and later food to feed their young. A pair of binoculars will allow a closer look, once they have got the hang of using them.

Identifying and recording birds
The Wildlife Trusts have compiled this useful short guide to ten of the most common garden birds. However, you are very likely to see other visitors from time to time. A more comprehensive guide from the RSPB here will generate a list of candidates based on size, colour, location etc. Children can be encouraged to draw some of the birds they see, either from life (tricky since they keep moving) or from the online identification pictures. If they keep a Nature Journal then this provides an ideal place to make such drawings and to record any interesting behaviour, such as nesting. The RSPB holds an annual garden Birdwatch in late January. It is easy to take part and children can help. You just need to set aside one hour and count all the birds which land in your garden in that time. You can find instructions here and the results from this year's birdwatch are reported here. Taking part in this might motivate children to do a little advanced study in how to recognise common garden birds.

Finally, it is fun to try to identify birds by their song. The calls of many of the most common birds can be found here - you may be surprised how many of these are familiar. Certainly I was! If you have children sleeping over with you, you might even consider taking them out into the garden early to listen to the dawn chorus, which reaches its peak in late spring.