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but no! it can't be true!
Mar. 20th, 2024 10:47 pmIntrepid Little Bastards, part whatever.
So we hung up the fat balls on the fishing line, and as documented yesterday, an intrepid magpie stole one and had it re-stolen by a crow. We later discovered the fat ball holder on the ground, and well emptied, presumably by several happy squirrels and perhaps a corvid or two.
So Beast found a better means of affixing it to the fishing line, which, I may remind you, is strung between the corner of the house and the nearest fence post. The fat ball holder is furthest from the house, then there are three empty plastic bottles strung along the line, then a cylinder which is regularly filled with peanuts, suet, sunflower seeds, and mealworms.
Well. Today, as I was about to start on lunch, I realised that there was a fat and very happy squirrel dangling insouciantly upside-down on the suspended cylinder of peanuts, suet etc. I was impressed, and frustrated at not having seen how it got there.
So I opened the window. The squirrel dropped to the ground and fled into the bushes, along with its ground-based brethren.
Not. Five. Minutes. Later, I spied the squirrel making its way along the fishing line from the fence side. On top, like a tight-rope crawler, not shimmying along underneath. When it reached the fat ball holder, it rebalanced itself, then jumped fleetly up, bounded along the plastic bottles and leaped for the cylinder. And feasted.
I summoned my Beast, roared at the squirrel, it fled, and after five more minutes, did the whole performance again, this time underneath the fishing line until it got to the fat ball holder, where it regrouped. In the interval between cylinder feasting, it drove the other squirrels away from the bounty spilled onto the ground during its feastings.
I am (a) impressed with this squirrel's agility; (b) wondering if putting the fat balls up there was a strategic error, since the container provides a platform and quite possibly also steadies the plastic bottles; and (c) determined to thwart the intrepid little buggers once more.
Tomorrow.
Watch this space.
So we hung up the fat balls on the fishing line, and as documented yesterday, an intrepid magpie stole one and had it re-stolen by a crow. We later discovered the fat ball holder on the ground, and well emptied, presumably by several happy squirrels and perhaps a corvid or two.
So Beast found a better means of affixing it to the fishing line, which, I may remind you, is strung between the corner of the house and the nearest fence post. The fat ball holder is furthest from the house, then there are three empty plastic bottles strung along the line, then a cylinder which is regularly filled with peanuts, suet, sunflower seeds, and mealworms.
Well. Today, as I was about to start on lunch, I realised that there was a fat and very happy squirrel dangling insouciantly upside-down on the suspended cylinder of peanuts, suet etc. I was impressed, and frustrated at not having seen how it got there.
So I opened the window. The squirrel dropped to the ground and fled into the bushes, along with its ground-based brethren.
Not. Five. Minutes. Later, I spied the squirrel making its way along the fishing line from the fence side. On top, like a tight-rope crawler, not shimmying along underneath. When it reached the fat ball holder, it rebalanced itself, then jumped fleetly up, bounded along the plastic bottles and leaped for the cylinder. And feasted.
I summoned my Beast, roared at the squirrel, it fled, and after five more minutes, did the whole performance again, this time underneath the fishing line until it got to the fat ball holder, where it regrouped. In the interval between cylinder feasting, it drove the other squirrels away from the bounty spilled onto the ground during its feastings.
I am (a) impressed with this squirrel's agility; (b) wondering if putting the fat balls up there was a strategic error, since the container provides a platform and quite possibly also steadies the plastic bottles; and (c) determined to thwart the intrepid little buggers once more.
Tomorrow.
Watch this space.