Squirrel on the trellis

While waiting for my coffee to brew I looked out to see if the bird feeders needed filling up, a daily exercise in our garden.  We have several dotted about in different places most of which are supposed to be squirrel proof.  The ones in the rhus tree do seem to be effective in that way, as the family of squirrels can often be seen running around that tree but never manage to get the sunflower seeds, unless they knock the whole feeder to the ground and scavenge for seeds that fall out.

But the last feeder left close to the sliding back door is hanging from an old tree branch fixed to a wooden trellis.  The squirrels have proceeded to destroy the old branch and each time they have reduced it in size the feeder has fallen to the ground and is now broken.  I still add a few seeds to it, as the nuthatches are very keen to fly up on to it if there are queues on the other feeders.

This squirrel is always visiting to try its luck.  As I am not keen on breeding squirrels I normally chase it away by waving my arms and making loud noises. It is effective for about a minute and then the clever beast returns.

This morning I'd slid the patio door open, and lo and behold, up popped this little face.  I couldn't not be charmed, a bit, by its wet face and cheekiness.  I clicked away as it looked up at me, then shooed it away.  It was back a minute later and carried on eating.  I do know local people who catch and drown them but I couldn't do that, although they are incredibly destructive and are official pests.  I'll have to try to be more ingenious in preventing them from grabbing the food.