How to Make a Robin Nest Box

A great way to encourage a festive Christmas Robin into you garden is to provide a supply of meal worms, one of the robins favourite treats. You can also encourage robins by installing a nest box for them in your garden. Robin boxes are a bit different in style to the popular blue tit box, in that they are less enclosed. So you may already have a bird box in your garden, but if you want to provide a habitat for a robin, you need a robin friendly nesting box.

You can buy Robin Nest boxes online or at your local garden centre, they cost around ten to fifteen pounds. However, for the fraction of the price, you can make your own Robin box quite easily. It’s a great little project to make the box and it’s very rewarding when robins take up residence.

To make your Robin Nesting box you will need: Wood – a decking plank is ideal and only costs around 3 pounds, and screws.

You need to cut the decking plank into the following lengths-
26cm long for the back panel
15 cm for the roof panel
8 cm for the front panel
The base needs to be the same length as the planks width.
The 2 sides need to have a sloping top, the back edge should be 18cm and the front edge should be 13cm

Note: The two sides need to be cut out so that they are inverted if you are using a decking panel with a textured side.

When you have cut the wood out give it a light sanding to get rid of any rough edges or splinters. Don’t worry if your sawing isn’t perfect, the robins won’t mind about the rough and readiness of their new home, they’re not too house proud!

Follow the photo diagram to assemble the robin box.

Use a drill to pilot drill holes, and then screw in two screws through the bottom back into the edge of the base wood.

Then get the first side in place, screwing two screws up through the base wood and into the side. and then through the bas and into the side.

similarly, attach the other side to match.

with just two screws, attach the front panel to the bird box, screwing into the side panels.

Finally, screw the roof into place.

On the back panel that sticks up from the roof, you will need to drill a hole through the wood to mount the nesting box.

The great thing about making a robin box from decking planks is that the wood has already been treated so you don’t need to paint it. Having said that, if you do want to protect your nest box further, use a water-based preservative that won’t harm your feathery tenants.

Site nest boxes where birds won't be disturbed, away from prevailing winds, rain and the full glare of the sun. Make sure the box is 2m to 5m from the ground and there are no nearby footholds for predators.

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How to Make an Origami Macaw Parrot

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Snuggly Owl Cushion Pattern

Owl cushions are very popular at the moment and for children they make a great soft toy as well as a useful cushion. I found this easy to follow Owl cushion pattern on the internet. I wanted to make a gift for my grandma, she loves owls and I was able to make this cushion in just a couple of hours from old scraps of material from the left over fabric bag. Brilliant!

Click the image to download the Free Pattern

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Simple Topiary Chickens Without Trimming

By S. Roberts

Since I was a child I have always admired topiary. The art of creating a living sculpture from buses and trees has always appealed to me. I would look in aura at topiary peacocks, squirrels and bunnies, even if they weren't particularly well formed.

I remember also as a child my mother clipping three small box buses into dome like shapes. Not quite the sculptures I admired but certainly less brash and easier to maintain. Funny to thick that nowadays simple topiary of geometric shapes is so popular, more so than the more elaborate birds and animals that were so fashionable in by gone days.

We recently moved house and in the garden were two dwarf conifers, which were rather old and had reached a height of four and five feet. I have never been a fan of conifers because they sap the earth's goodness without a single bloom to show for it.

Not really wanting such dull specimens in the garden I pondered on how to make them more appealing. And with a little tree training I transformed the two trees into a Mother hen and chick, giving a topiary appearance without any of the hedge clipping of trimming skills.

How to make a Topiary looking chicken...
Take an aged dwarf conifer and look down into the construction of its stems or branches. The tree sends up 'clumps' Mentally divide these clumps into four.

The tallest clump will form the head.
The smallest will be left as a tail.
The other two clumps will form the chicken’s wings.

You may have to dig the tree up if the largest clump is facing the wrong direction. But with a good watering the tree can be replanted happily.

Using a length of green garden wire, fix one end of the wire to just above half way up a wing clump. Then thread the wire down through the main body of the chicken so that the wire can not be seen. Pull the wire so that the clump bends down to form a right angle, this forms the wing. The tip of the clump points out behind the chicken. Fix the other end of the wire to the to the woody base of the tree where it wont be noticed. Do the same to the wing on the other side of the tree.

Creating the head of the chicken works on a similar principle to the wings. Attach one end of a piece of garden wire approximately one quarter of the way from the tip of the head clump and pull the tip down and bend it over roughly 45 degrees to form the head. Fix the other end of the wire to the main branch f the head clump. Arrange the greenery to hide the wire.

Leave the chickens tail to stand upright proudly at the back.

As a finishing touch wire a couple of fir cones in place as eyes.

The result is simple topiary chickens that don't require clipping and continual trimming. I'm sure you will agree that they are 'cheep' and cheerful.


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S. Roberts wrie for http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/ http://www.artclaysupplies.co.uk/ and http://www.bigboystoyz.com/