Rats!

I was wondering why, twice recently, the bird feeder has been emptied overnight, with a pile of seed left on the ground. Apart from the obvious loss to the small birds, the spillage attracted magpies, jackdaws and crows to help themselves - surely they could not have inverted the feeder? To find an explanation, last night we set up the trail camera by the back fence, aimed at the feeder and waited to see just who was to blame.

It picked up a whole series such as this photo, 30 in all; from just before 11pm until gone 5am, as rats nipped up the post and into the squirrel-proof cage and feasted on best bird food, sometimes singly, a pair, a threesome as here and once even four of them. There were no visible visits from foxes and only once did a cat appear on the scene and not even mine but from next door (not my friend but from our other neighbour) and which made no attempt to chase a rat.

I have to admit surprise as they have never appeared on the camera before - foxes, of course, badger, yes, even otter, but never a rat. One explanation might be that there is extensive building work two and three doors along, which may have upset the wildlife, however, still there is no explanation for the spilled seed.

Our options to prevent further access included spikes that we put on top of the birdboxes somehow attached to the pole but thought they might be tricky to fix, so have painted the pole with anti-climb paint. I shall view tonight's videos with interest.