There's one inevitable result of feeding your garden birds, particularly if, like me, you live next door to stables, and that is rats. I put out a nyjer seed feeder with tray for the Goldfinches, and, what do you know?, there's a rat crouching on the tray, feeding its face, while the birds sit on a nearby shrub thinking I know not what. But I know what I am thinking....Meanwhile, at the bottom of the garden, I have put out a Pheasant feeder, because, Lord be praised, a cock Pheasant has taken to coming into my garden, thereby adding a splash of much-needed colour to these drab January days. And, what do you know?, there's a rat with its snout in the trough, noshing the seeds, while the Pheasant hesitates nearby, thinking, probably, the same thing as the Goldfinches.
I know brown rats are not the species that brought the Black Death to our shores, but I am still finding it hard to love them. Luckily for them, I am in lethargic mode at the moment.
Happy New Year, by the way!
4 comments:
You need a Jack Russell terrier now.
What a brilliant idea, Charles! I have been thinking for some time that I ought to get another dog, my last, a fine black Labrador bitch, having departed this life three Chrismtases ago. A Jack Russell would be perfect.
Or a decent air rifle.
Hm, not sure I want to go to the expense of an air rifle just to terminate the odd rat with extreme prejudice, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.
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