Table Manners

Wildlife in public parks tend to be a little more tolerant of humans trooping around the various footpaths.  This lets you get a little closer to the subject.  This squirrel, for example.  He didn't seem overtly concerned by my proximity for the most part.

Garden Gremlins

We've always had one or two squirrels that make themselves at home in the garden.  They can be quite entertaining chasing each other around the garden and through the trees.  For all of their cheeky charm they can be a nuisance.  They can wade through a bird feeder full of sunflower hearts in less than a morning.

You scratch my back...

I may not be the grey squirrel's biggest fan, but nor would I do anything that would injure or hurt them in anyway so we've opted for more preventative measures to stop them stealing the food by adding chilli powder.  They can still help themselves to the peanuts we put out, the feeders themselves tend to restrict them from guzzling the lot.

They can be a bit brazen when it comes to feeding.  The picture below is just before he makes a leap for the window feeder.  He almost seems to be checking if the coast is clear.

Casing the joint

The inevitable outcome was squirrel and window feeder taking a tumble.

It's fun to watch them speeding through the treetops and the incredible distance they achieve when leaping from one tree to another.  Their agility is second to none.

As of last Sunday, we currently have four squirrels in the garden.  We watched them chasing one another but we aren't sure if they are a family unit or two pairs that are defending their territory.  Some of them also seemed to have developed a taste for chilli as we've spotted greys munching at the coated sunflower hearts with enthusiasm.

We're going to need to come up with a plan B.

Trial and Error

There are times when I think we have the most spoilt garden birds in the county.  Currently, we have nine different bird feeders in two locations around the garden in addition to two bird baths and a drinking spot.  The first feeding area is directly outside the kitchen window where the feeders hang from the branches of a silver birch tree. The second is a free standing feeder station that we located in the corner of the garden.

The feeding station in the corner of the garden.

There's been a fair bit of trial and error over the years but what we found works best for us in our particular garden can be completely different a few gardens away (our neighbour Bill regularly gets different bird visitors than ourselves despite being just over a hundred metres from us).  Here are a few tips that we've learnt over the years that might be helpful.

Reduce the Waste
We use peanuts, fat-balls, niger seed and by far the most popular are sunflower hearts.  Sunflower hearts are a little more expensive that sunflower seed but it does cut down on the messy seed husks the birds discard.  We were shocked to see a large brown rat one morning chomping away on the discarded husks, not what you want to see close to a kitchen door. Sunflower hearts definitely reduce the mess.

Niger seed, is very popular with goldfinches, but it will also kill the grass underneath the feeder after a while.  We use a niger feeder with an detachable tray, this cuts down on the amount of seed that hits the ground.

Location, Location, Location
Birds seem to prefer a bit of cover close to the feeders, so they can dash to safety should a Sparrowhawk or other predator put in an appearance.  We originally placed the feeding station in an open area of the garden and nothing used it.

A Bullfinch pays a visit

Feeders
The choice of available bird feeders now is staggering.  We've worked our way through quite a few and personally (for our circumstances anyway) more expensive metal feeders for the sunflower hearts and peanuts work best.  Remember that you need to clean and sterilise the feeders regularly to avoid any nasty diseases that can spread through the bird population and metal feeders tend to be more resilient to repeated disassembly and reassembly.

If you can provide a source of water for the birds as well, this would be fantastic.  You'll be surprised just how many birds this can attract to your garden.

A place to bathe is always welcomed

Squirrels
I'm not the greatest fan or grey squirrels and if you have them in your garden chances are they will pretty much trough what food you have out,  They can also destroy your feeders themselves by biting through the perch plugs and pulling them out, thus emptying the food all over the ground.  Metal feeders can stop the destruction but they can still get the food. (although they don't bother with niger seed so we just have a plastic feeder for this).  If you mix in chilli powder with the feed the squirrels won't go near it and it won't have any effect on the birds.  (I'm not totally heartless, I don't do this with the peanuts so they can eat something untainted).

The plastic birdfeeder was ruined within the week.

You can't stop
If you start putting food out for birds, especially in the winter months when food is scarce, then you need to understand that it is a long term commitment.  Birds will come to depend on this source of sustenance, and if you forget to refill the feeders or just plain stop then you could unwittingly have a detrimental impact on the bird population.

It is worth it, because you get to see things like this.

A Greater Spotted Woodpecker loves fat-balls.

Animals

For this entry I thought I would post some more animal photographs.  I won't bore everyone with unnecessary wording this week.  There are a couple which do make me smile.

I hope you enjoy.

Boxer dog on guard

Patience is a virtue

 

Watching the lawn mowing

Chico, our neighbours' cat on the woodpile.

Patch, our neighbours' rescue dog and one of the nicest dogs you could meet.

Housebound

 

I'm currently off work at the moment due to problems with my back which has greatly reduced my mobility (hopefully the consultant will be able to shine some light on the matter tomorrow). I can't walk very far or stand for very long and the medication leaves me dull of thought and dopey (although friends will say "no real change there, then").

All the photographs in this post where taken in the last ten days.  I've tried my hand at "Arty" pictures and last night we had a fantastic sunset that I managed to photograph from the back door.  In fact, most of these pictures were taken from the back door.  I hope you enjoy.

The Wisteria on the front of the cottage.

Silver Birch being buffeted by the autumn winds

The kitchen window

Full moon through a gap in he trees

Squirrel scoping out the bird feeders

Sunrise through the bedroom window

The sunset yesterday (Saturday 18th October)

Squirrel

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with grey squirrels (it stems from and embarrassing trip to A&E after being bitten by one).  They visit the garden from time to time and pretty much decimate the bird feeders.  I watched one last week throw an empty bird feeder off it's hook and across the garden in what looked like a fit of pique because it was empty.  When they were infrequent visitors they were nice to see.  When they start clearing out full bird feeders on a daily basis and chewing through them they become an annoyance.

I've taken to adding chilli powder to the nuts and sunflower hearts that we put out for the birds.  Squirrels hate it but it has no effect on the birds themselves, so the squirrels tend to move on to other parts of the garden.

They may not be my favourite animal, but you have to admire their cleverness and pure gymnastic ability.