Someone has fattened up for winter:
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Not my story but rather sweet and quite timely for Halloween
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Not seen an escape from a threat like this. Video slowed down 75%.
Ten sparrows react to an arial threat from a predatory bird, Iām sure. I think the chaffinch flew away a split second before the threat appeared OR was caught? Who knows?
Two ring necked doves have been killed and plucked close by in the recent past, so thereās a local predator about.
Spot the female chaffinch on the right, flying off vertically, disturbed by a male sparrow, then all sparrows suddenly become alerted to a threat. Very quick decisions are made. Within less than 2 seconds, five or six of the sparrows are huddled/hidden under the round bird bath, and the others have disappeared into long grass, and all remerge about 10 seconds later and fly off.
You can see how fast they react in the last part of the video.
Six minutes later the irrepressible sparrows were back - assuming they are the same sparrows.
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I leave 4 fat balls around the bird bath daily for the moment until I get the proper containers sorted and hung up in the trees.
In the meanwhile, would you believe it!? A newly resident Magpie managed to get a fat ball into his beak and fly away with it!
Think it has to be a male. They have larger beaks than females. But why would he have done that?
So he can take it away and nosh it up with his friends, magpies are big on favours and transactional stuff.
Also for security they are prey themselves too, go to a safe place to eat
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Well now, I shall leave some shiny trinkets and see what happens, as Crows and Magpies have that reputation for stealing such things. A bit of fun. See what happens!
Bet he goes for the fat ball again.
The camera lens is misted up but the culprit is clearly caught in the act! And his mate follows him to share the ill-gotten gains!
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You should see the deftness with which the jays around here swipe fatballs off the tree we hang them on. We hang the fatballs on a piece of ribbon about 40cm long - the original thinking behind this was to prevent them just bending over from the branch and taking the fatball in their beaks, thereby leaving them only for those birds light and agile enough to land on the fatball and feed from it, essentially only the tits. Not to be outdone by the humans, the jays have discovered that they can grab the ribbon with their beak at the top near the branch, lift the ribbon onto the branch, and then pin it with their feet - rinse and repeat until the fat ball is pulled up to the branchā¦
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Iām sure thereās so much more we still donāt know about those we share the planet withā¦
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Oh dear, a young cat has turned up, not seen before now, eating a fat ball - must be very hungry. Shall capture, neuter and release if thereās no microchip. She can then join the others that eat in the workshop.
After she had consumed half of the fat ball, a Magpie came for the rest!
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It does not look particularly malnourished, two of my nine will eat fat balls and they definitely arenāt underfed, agree with the capture, neuter and release policy though 
I agree. When I see a new cat in the neighbourhood I have to do something about it. I think this one is female, so the sooner the better. There is more appropriate cat food in the workshop behind her, but sheās not found it yet. I have a camera there as well.
This is Tom Tom, aka fat boy, we put him on a diet because he is basically just an eating machine so he suplimented his diet with fat balls instead 
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A neighbour pointed out that I had an Asian hornet nest in one of my trees. It looks HUGE but I hadnāt noticed. This is the third nest in about 6 years or so. He said to contact the Marie, which I shall do!
At this time of year itās likely empty.
Rob le Pest (@Rob_le_Pest ) might be able to offer advice if he is still on the forum.
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My early veg are savaged by pigeons. Anybody got any tried and tested scaring ideas, or will I have to cover completely?
Cover them with netting, not letting the netting touch the plants.
9 cats
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Of course I am 
. In the Cher (18) Iām still treating active nests. The one in the photo does look somewhat expired though.
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