Wanted: Hungry Sparrow Hawks

We have never seen so many small birds. The air is as full of them, goldfinches, chaffinches and - after a long absence - house sparrows. We saw the sparrow hawk the other day and he was so fat he had difficulty in staying in the air. All he had to do for a meal was, rather like a basking shark, cruise along with his mouth open.

There are so many on our bird feeders they have to queue up on the fencing wire while waiting their turn. At least, in this part of the world, they enjoy a fine view across Kilchoan Bay towards the Coastguard station and the lower slopes of Ben Hiant.

Some birds are getting crowded out: it's a long time since we saw any siskins, and yellowhammers, dunnocks, greenfinches and the tit family are struggling to get a look in. A coal tit turned up the other day, took one look at the mayhem, and hasn't been seen since.

So the Diary has been inventing feeders which the riff-raff can't access - like this one, made out of a length of plastic piping and a square of wire mesh, specifically designed for the blue tits. It took the sparrows three days sitting on the wire watching the tits to work out how to crack the problem. Back to the drawing board.