We moved house earlier this year, and when we arrived at our new abode, there were lots of colourful birds hanging around in the garden, as the previous owners used to hang up bird-feeders.

Unfortunately for the birds, we arrived with one canny hunter of a cat. A few months – and a few feathery messes to clean off the carpet – the birds have got the message and cleared off. We’re quite sad about this, although at least happy they’re not meeting a feline doom any more.

Duckie Deck Bird Houses is at least helping us get our fix of feathery fauna. Released by Duckie Deck for iPhone and iPad, it’s an app that gets children to build virtual houses for virtual birds.

“With a large selection of materials, paint colors and decor, kids can mix and match until they find their perfect style,” explains its App Store listing. “Bird Houses provides an opportunity for group play and collaboration, and can also inspire a real-life construction project.”

Well, maybe not for us, but we do like the idea of our two children learning to be much nicer to birds than our four-legged huntress is. And Duckie Deck Bird Houses is very nicely done indeed: easy to use but with lots of scope for decoration.

Duckie Deck Bird Houses costs £1.49 for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store.