A Mouse Problem

People tell us that we shouldn't feed the small birds in summer. They're probably right, in that there's plenty of natural food around, but we would desperately miss the parade of species which we sit and watch every day. For example, this morning a very smart male greenfinch visited us.

Whether feeding birds in summer is right or wrong, it does cause a problem which seems to be far worse this year, probably brought about by the loss of our two cats, and has occasioned the invention of a new device - in the picture, it's under the white board below the central bird table.

The problem is mice, at least two species of them, and shrews. The mice have become so brazen about stealing the birds' seed that....

....at times they have to queue up.

The situation has been exacerbated by the arrival of squadrons of juvenile house sparrows. They're messy eaters, throwing out any grain they don't like, particularly the wheat, to get at the ones they do like, mainly the sunflower seeds and millet. These sparrows have become so aggressive that even the resident chaffinches give way to them. They now lurk around below the feeders, picking up the sparrows' cast-offs.

The ready availability of grain has meant that the mouse population, like the house sparrow, has exploded, so the white board conceals mouse traps. It's there to hide the traps from the birds, and the mice can only get in through a small, low entrance - at left in this picture.

The traps are a brand called Little Nippers. They've been grimly effective.