Bird Table News

Squirrels - I hate them.  Well I hate the grey squirrel.  It’s a thug among wild animals.

A question that sometimes comes to mind is - do squirrels ever eat birds.  I think they eat birds eggs from nests.

Anyhow, This morning I saw a shadow behind the hanging bird feeder,  was it a large bird trying to cling on.  No you’ve guessed it. It was a squirrel.

The grey squirrel was hanging upside down on the feeder.  It was clinging to the feeder and feeding ‘upside down’

How often has this been happening.  I’ve noticed fewer birds near the feeder this past few days,  but thought it  was maybe the time of year - summer and  a lot of food around.

I bet this squirrel has taken over the feeder.  I’ve noticed before if there is  a squirrel at the feeders the birds seem to stay away.

I will find a solution.

I can tie a string up between two poles and hang the feeder on the string. At the moment it is near branches and all the squirrel has to do is swing from the branch to the feeder.

I can buy a squirrel proof type feeder.  These are good type feeders, it’s just the cage stops the view of the birds eating, but that’s a small price to pay to keep these squirrels out.

I can buy a squirrel proof bird table and put all the food on that, but there are some birds that like hanging feeders.

I could kill the squirrel (no better not).  I’ve never killed an animal in my life.  Can’t start now.

Whoever brought these grey squirrels into England made a big mistake.  I’m sure I remember seeing red squirrels years ago.  They are so rare now.

Will there ever be a problem free bird feeding day! 

My new bird table seems to be coming apart, will have to have a look at that later today.

So I need to find a piece of string to hang the bird feeder from and I need to find a hammer and nails to try and get the birdtable to stay in one piece.

I’ll have some breakfast first though.

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A year ago today - 12th August 2007 - Death in the Country Garden

I promise I have not arranged for these two posts to be done like this.  Coincidence is a strange thing.

I like to look through my old notes and see what I was doing a year ago.  I always do it after I have written my day’s Bird Table News diary entry.  This time it is about me finding dead young birds on the lawn in August 2007.  In my entry today I have asked the question ‘ Do squirrels kill birds’.

I don’t for one minute think that squirrels killed these chicks, but it is a coincidence I have mentioned dead birds exactly one year to the day in both posts.  I wonder how many more time coincidences like this happen, but I don’t notice because i haven’t written them down.

Tags: squirrel