FEATHERED visitors to Exford First School had a surprise feast on Wednesday - cooked up by youngsters taking part in a nationwide birdwatch. Seven-to nine-year-old pupils followed recipes supplied by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds charity for its annual garden birdwatch. The school has taken part in the initiative, aimed at providing a vital snapshot of the UK's bird population each winter, for a number of years. And this year the visitors were offered a choice of fat balls, seedcake, sunflower seeds, peanuts, apples, raisins, cheese or meal worms. Headteacher Janet West said the results had not been as good as previously but the weather on the day had been milder and quite cloudy. "If we had done the count the previous day we would have been able to report many more birds," said Mrs West. "The children made all the food themselves and even wrote their own press release about what they had done. "We feed the birds all the year round. It's been so mild recently that we haven't had as many birds as usual but we had hoped the colder snap and the delicious snacks would encourage them into the school garden." However, despite the smaller number of birds tucking into the free breakfast, the event proved as much of an attraction as ever for the children. One pupil commented: "It was fun following the recipes from the RSPB website and making the bird treats - we hope the birds enjoyed them." The result of the hour-long watch will be sent to the RSPB to help the charity discover any changes in bird numbers. Pictured making some of the tasty treats are, from the left, pupils Poppy Phillips, Amy Fisher, Christopher Winzer, Bruce Bullard, Sam Retallick, Ashley Prior and Millie Allport with Mrs West and learning support assistant Clarissa Saywell. Photo: Steve Guscott.