The focal point of our new garden room is this bird aviary that we have been constructing from recycled materials and some local bush poles. As you can see it’s not huge and won’t accomodate a vast array of birds but there will be enough room to enjoy a few. We’re planning to host some finches and quails at the moment but later may decide to go a little more exotic and include lovebirds or canaries.

Building a bird avairy outdoors is not as onerous as one might assume and can be constructed from very minimal resources. The materials we are using for this design are; bush poles for the uprights, corrugated mini-orb sheeting to protect them, thatching for the roof and wiremesh to encase it all.

It certainly won’t be a construction that Aviary Weekly (if there is such a thing) will display on the front cover but it will suffice for our purposes. The aim of building this bird aviary is to tie in with the garden room theme and also to add some interest as we, and our visitors, pause for a time.

Outdoor aviaries, like water features and fountains, can provide a great focus to relax and unwind. The beauty with an aviary is that unlike a water feature you can watch little creatures go about their business without too much fuss or anxiety and they sing while they do it. I’m looking forward to sitting in this ‘room’ and enjoying their activity.

BTW – we had grand visions of which birds we could stock in this aviary until we talked to our local pet store owner. We found out that there are many birds that can’t dwell together in the same cage so if you are planning to build your own bird aviary, ask some questions and consider what birds will live together happily (without eating each other).