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A tale of overcoming cats, squirrels, magpies and scaffolding! (1 Viewer)

deborah4

Well-known member
I've followed a pair of Great Tits for weeks taking food from feeders and returning to a large tree in neighbours garden. Neighbour decided to erected scaffolding a few weeks ago and builders have been working 10 feet away from tree. Neighbour also has black young moggy who stalks everything. And I have a squirrel who eats everything.

Fortunately, working at home often, I get to spend a lot of time at the window overlooking the garden o:D Much of this time is spent with one eye on bird watch another on cat watch. Today, the cat was persistent and so was I but this evening I was drawn to the window by a sudden cacophony of manic baby bird noises from the tree overhanging the garden. I went to the back door. OH NO!!!! That b****y cat's climed the tree , I thought, and is raiding the Great Tit nest. I couldn't see anything but the noise continued. Resigned that there was little I could do, I closed the door. The noise continued but then I heard a black bird sing in the garden (funny, should be alarming surely?) so went back out to have another butchers.

Suddenly! Out of the tree swept 7 Great Tits! Mum, Dad and 5 little 'uns! They went crazy round the feeders, on the seed, on the fat, on the water bath. I have never seen such a sight so close to hand. They had all flown the nest at the same time and were all demanding to be fed. :bounce: I watched for 30 mins (at one point the cat returned but was sent running by me - sorry cat lovers, but this one is a little scared of me o:D ).

WONDERFUL experience ... they're all back in the tree now and its quiet again.
 
Ah, that's great news Deborah! Can't wait for more of the same from all round the country. Our BT's and GT's seem to be a few weeks behind, probably due to the wet weather.
 
That's a great story, Deborah! :clap: Love it.

But may I ask, where does "have another butchers" come from? I mean, I get what it means but is it rhyming slang? Just have never heard that one before. :t:
 
Katy Penland said:
That's a great story, Deborah! :clap: Love it.

But may I ask, where does "have another butchers" come from? I mean, I get what it means but is it rhyming slang? Just have never heard that one before. :t:

Hi Katy

Yes, you're right - its Cockney rhyming slang ... lol forget sometimes this is an international forum! Oddly enough, I rarely use such expressions - this one comes from Butcher's Hook to rhyme with 'Look'.

more here: http://www.businessballs.com/cockney.htm
 
Your Great tits are well ahead of the ones down this way some still havn't finished laying yet, though the blue tits have small recently hatched young
 
deborah4 said:
Hi Katy

Yes, you're right - its Cockney rhyming slang ... lol forget sometimes this is an international forum!
No worries, it's wonderful. It's actually one of the really fun things about being global is that there are so many new things one learns every day. Thanks for that link! It's already bookmarked. :t:
 
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