The last days of summer are here and I have been renewing my bird feeders in Bingfield Park.  Readers will know of my battle with the squirrel menace – the tree rats eat all the food and/or destroy the feeders by chewing through the suspension cable. Squirrels and possibly humans have destroyed four feeders so far.   After experimentation I have settled on a new approach after hitting Robert Dyas in the sale.

• two squirrel proof bird feeders – one for nuts, one for seed.  These both work now I have got the hang of locating them properly suspended on long wires away from uprights the squirrels can jump from.  They have been resilient to all this summer’s weather.
• six-ball fat ball feeder with a plastic coated metal frame
• terracotta suspended bird drinker/bath on  a hanging basket set of chains
• two suspended bird feeding tables that I load up with a budgie seed mix – this allows birds that don’t cling onto upright feeders to feed.

All of the above are suspended from the trees using 7 strand stainless steel wire rope.  I had previously experimented with garden wire, telephone wire and three core electric mains cable but the squirrels or friction destroyed them.  The squirrels knawed a third of the way through the three core mains cable.  The extremely strong but thin wire rope is hard to find but I got some very cheaply at the excellent Arthur Beale, the ships chandler on Shaftesbury Avenue (they have been there 110 years and are unfailingly helpful) – they also sell you the fittings such as teardrop eyes and screw down clamps for a few pence.  I give the wire a coating of PTFE or silicon lubricant – which is inert and shouldn’t harm the squirrels but makes the wire rope very slippery indeed.

I have hopefully hung them high enough that no one can nick them.  Let’s see what the winter brings.