Skip to main content

Squirrels

I have finally invested in a squirrel baffle as they were cleaning out the seed feeder in no time at all. The feeders were placed for best viewing from the living room window but of course that was an easy jump from the fence. The first alternative position wasn't much better but the third location finally worked although I might now keep the bins by the armchair rather than reply of naked eye viewing.

Once they had discovered that they couldn't run straight up the pole a squirrel proceeded to study the feeder from every angle, including a branch at the edge of the garden before deciding that there was no way up. Mostly the squirrels are now taking the buts that the birds drop they do try the occasional leap. The baffle is designed to tilt and they just slide off again. From the way, at different times, it is tilted at different angles they have made a number of attempts although I have only observed one.

What the baffle has shown up is the sheer volume of food that the finches drop when they take seed. The number of starlings has diminished in recent weeks and the goldfinches are by far the predominant bird in the garden at the moment. Blue and great tits are also coming to the feeders and I have seen the occasional chaffinch and on Saturday morning a solitary cock bullfinch in the bushes at the bottom of the garden. Even without the squirrels depredations the food is going quite rapidly in the back garden but, curiously, hardly anything is being taken from the fat bar in the front.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kites Spreading East

 I haven't been posting much due personal matters but still have my eyes open. One thing that has struck me is the eastward spread of birds of prey. I have seen buzzards over Havering-atte-Bower but the big suprise in the past month as been a red kite over the M25 near Stapleford Abbotts in Essex. The skys still look empty by Chiltern standards though. A nice little spot last week was a goldcrest during a visit to Kew Gardens.  I have downloaded the Merlin app which supposedly identifies birdsong. I have had little opportunity to try it out but a quck test in the garden showd that it correctly told me that I could hear jackdaws and a robin. I look forward to using it on the coast to see if it can distinguish the various waders for me. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Not as Quiet as I Thought

 The garden has seemed very quiet with hardly any birds seen but I hadn't been explicitly looking. I have just started putting a little food out in the front and in 24 hours have seen Robin, Great and Blue Tits and Magpies landing in my tiny front garden. Yesterday I heard a song that was unusual to me which the Merlin app identified as a Blackcap. Unfortunately for me the bird was ensconsed in the middle of my Forsythia which is still in full leaf and I couldn't get a sighting. This afternoon I saw Robins in the garden and corvids overhead. I set Merlin running while I swept fallen leaves from the front path. The app identified Robin, Rook, Wren, Jackdaw, Greenfinch and Blackbird. I also heard Parakeets but not while the app was running. 
Post a Comment
Read more

A Little More Normal

 After a couple of days of frost the garden looks more like a typical winter's day with birds visiting throughout the day. Blue tits are the main visitor plus one or two marsh (or possibly willow) tits and the occasional great tit. A flock of long tailed tits paid a fairly brief visit. Robins in the back garden have paired, seemingly a little later than the ones in the front.  Due to ill health the ivy on my back fence hasn't been trimmed and has developed a good crop of berries. The only bird that I have seen showing interest has been a wood pigeon which spent some time yesterday feasting on them. In the front I put out a fat block yesterday afternoon which, so far, has attracted a grey squirrel. The pair of robins and the occasional blackbird are active on the hanging table.
Post a Comment
Read more