Sunday 25th November -Garden birds

After the torrential rain and floods right through last week and Saturday night, devastating much of the country,  it was a pleasure to have a small amount of benign bright weather on Sunday morning. On Wednesday I tried to visit one of our offices in Barnstaple, Devon, by a train leaving Paddington at 7am - only to find 8 hours later I was back at Paddington having not made it further than Bristol (still about 90 miles to go). The train having to reverse back to Bristol from somewhere in somerset once it encountered the floods.

I haven't spent much time or attention on the garden feeders for much of autumn to date (the squirrels have been winning that battle !) but I had an hour or so before we went to Sal's birthday lunch.

The surprise,  3 male Bramblings !, that spent 30 mins around before flying off - hope they remain in the area for the Winter.  In addition, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 2 Greenfinch 8 Chaffinch, 1 Bullfinch, , Robin, Dunnock, 1 Jay, 3 Magpies, Jackdaws, 2 Pheasant, 6 Great Tits, 8 Blue Tits, 3 Coal Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, several Blackbirds and Woodpigeon. 5 Redwings landed briefly at the top of one of the trees in the gully and a Sparrowhawk made a couple of passes. A few photos from the very grubby kitchen window below.

I now need to work out how to up the anti on the Squirrels. There are 5 of the little buggers, they get to the feeders and eat through the wire/plastic/metal or knock over and generally prevent the birds from feeding. 

I've tried greasing the poles to the feeders, firstly with Olive oil, which works for a limited time, then with Chili oil, which had the same effect but just for a small while longer, then with Vicks VapoRub ( Having experienced what happens with this if you accidentally scratch yourself in the wrong place after applying, I was hoping to watch the Squirrels dance away in excruciating pain imagining the burning sensation they would be feeling in their nether regions) . It did work momentarily, but again, especially with the wet weather, only until the pole washes down and they can get enough traction to shimmy up the pole again.
I've looked at the accessories you can buy - cones or baffles for the poles and feeders called 'Squirrel Busters' - just not convinced they would work the Squirrels are more canny and more violent than these contraptions - and they're expensive. So nothing for it, but to continue with the experiments over the winter - Look out Nutkins your time's up buddy.

2 male Brambling

Brambling
 

a ringed Goldfinch

Coal tit