Charlye makes the BEST bird food fat balls locally (or so we and the birds in our gardens think!). He has kindly put together the recipes that he uses for you to have a go.
Fat ball cakes
Wild bird seed mixture 1400g
Lard                                     250g
Suet                                   250g
Bread crumbs                  200g
Robin/Woodpecker log food
Lard                                                   250g
Suet                                                  250g
Chopped peanuts                           250g
Sunflower hearts                            250g
Oatmeal                                           250g
Mealworms                                      25g
Sultanas                                           250g     Â
Shredded Cheese                         250g
I find that the best way to make it is to melt the lard & suet together in a microwave whilst mixing the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Then you pour the melted fats into the dry ingredients & stir it all together. It is best to let the mixture cool until the next day before you try & mould it. At that point it will seem quite hard but if you dig into it with a table knife & break it up it can be worked into a shape.
For the robin food I use the bottom of a margarine tub to act as a mould for a flat cake. For the fat ball cakes I use a piece of drainpipe with one of those Schwartz spice jars as a plunger.
It is best to use real beef suet (which you can get from a butcher's shop) rather than the refined, supermarket packet version. The latter is 10% starch and the packet is only 200g + it is much more expensive. If you use real suet you have to strain off the meaty bits when it is melted.
I find that the half & half suet/lard mixture works well. If you use extra lard it is too sticky and if you use extra suet it becomes too hard and brittle.
Good luck!