Squirrels...

I've got the nets up today, first time in ages. Metcheck has been really bad lately, I've woken up (either intentionally or not) with the vague idea of going ringing but it's been raining. When it's promised me clear weather! (well, nicely overcast in any case). So I gave myself a lie-in today and put the nets up after I eventually got up. The problem today is sun, so I haven't caught anything so far, and I don't really expect to. There's also one of those annoying breezes that ruffles the net up at one end, making it eminently more visible.

So I've set myself the task of maintaining the feeders. This really shouldn't be much of a task, as I only have 4 out, one of which is an amazing metal contraption that needs hardly any attention. But of the other 3, I had to spend hours first getting them down from the trees as they're higher than I can reach (I can only just reach them standing on a chair), then finding the bird-standing-on-things. Don't know what they're called, but the squirrels not only insist on chewing the edges and occasionally knocking them to the ground (which I solved with the aid of a moderate amount of copper wire), but also to remove these bits and scatter them in the undergrowth. Especially now that it's spring and there's a large amount of growing things, they are hard to find. Why do people make them green?????? A nice red would stand out and also let the birds know where the feeders are!

After only managing to find 2 of the 4 missing things-which-the-bird-stands-on, I took them all inside and taped up the feeders with a large amount of duct tape. There. That'll show those damn squirrels. Now to see if I've caught anything yet.