Pigeon Post

For the past few months I have been - largely unsuccessfully - trying to lure birds into our teeny tiny garden. I think the fact that it started out as a rectangle of grass was largely to blame. I am trying to turn it into a 'garden' but progress is slow on that front - hampered by lack of time, energy and funds. My main aim in trying to get them to visit, is to take pictures of birds; I have seen the most fantabulous shots of birds over at Flickr, and it would be nice if I could get something half as decent. A girl could get quite paranoid that her fat balls are so spurned. (That's not a sentence I ever anticipated writing).

Part of the problem, of course, could be that we have Georgie-cat, but she is largely an indoor cat, and it has to be said she is totally rubbish at hunting. True, she is pretty good at bringing in feathers, leaves and twigs. We have also had several worms - she drops them on the floor and looks all pleased with herself. I pat her on the head and patronisingly tell her what a fantastically clever girl she is, before relocating said worm back outside. She has brought in a grasshopper before, a couple of daddy-long-legs, and several flies. Last summer she even bought in a baby frog, but as far as 'traditional' feline prey is concerned, we have had zilch. Bless her.

I consulted Ms Gigibird on the issue, because she is very knowledgeable on the subject and she gave me some advice. Within a few days of putting some wild bird seed up on the shed roof, I had had visitors. Woohoo. At that time it was pretty snowy outside and those poor birds must have been quite desperate for food.

Anyway, I had a visit from some pigeons and some blackbirds - one of whom had only one leg. I named him 'Long John':

Since the snow went, there have been few more visitors - it has become largely a pigeon place, despite the seed I bought being labelled as particularly attractive to SMALL wild birds. I have been watching those pigeons though, and it has to be said they are quite amusing. The other day, two of them flew down at the same time. They each looked rather surprised.

Then they tried to sort of ignore each other and feed, but they're not exactly good at hiding are they? Don't tell them I said so, but I suspect they're not all that bright. They each began to do a funny sort of dance on tiptoe at one another.

It was a real battle of wills, and the one on the right got a bit 'flappy' about the whole thing. I think maybe the one on the left is older - he/she is a bit bigger. The flappy one flapped off, leaving the one on the left to enjoy some solo dining.

They are slightly comical looking things aren't they? I swear they are wearing those googly eyes you can buy in craft shops.

Anyway, after watching this pigeony display, I wandered off. I came back about 20 minutes later, and saw something that may well be the reason why I don't get many birds in our garden:

It would never occur to Georgie to get up there, but this missy (her name tag reads 'Princess' with a phone number) obviously has no problem with it. I have never seen her before, so assume she's the new kid on the block. Any advice as to how I can keep her off the shed, and get the birds on to it? Or somewhere else in the garden?

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