Rescuing Wild Birds with Trees
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Sometimes I can’t even think of a title so I write what I am thinking. Which in itself is probably the most backwards sentence I have ever written.
We are down to two cats now. Two old cats. Lulu and one of the Vandals. The other three died naturally in the barn and John has a cat cemetery. The Vandals were Marmalade’s kittens if you can remember that far back. Only one left now. And Lulu was a kitten rescue – she was only a few days old- one of Nanny Boo’s first babies. Here she is having an old lady morning stretch.
But I am not getting any more cats after these ones have gone. The chickens do a good job of keeping the mice down (the cats have never been inside-cats so that is not an issue) but those cats were terribly hard on the native birds and my chook chicks and peachicks. We have piles of trees now – and the native birds are no longer as rare to see so I am happy to not replenish the cat population here. Someone else will have to rescue them. I am rescuing wild birds. I don’t want to see any more piles of brightly colored feathers on the lawn.
I am rescuing birds by planting trees. Our place is becoming a forest – a jungle just like I planned. I am very happy with that. Today I am going to mark a few mulberry trees to cut down for firewood. Every now and then they need culling out so my special trees can thrive. The mulberries are native too and great food for birds. But other trees need to grow in the jungle too. Did I tell you about the native magnolia my tree man gave me?
Here it is. He knows I love trees with big leaves. When I am dead this will be a beautiful canopy of trees all talking to each other. And the house will have slowly sunk back into the marshy ground.
This is the first year we have had apples in a long time. There are piles of them. Hopefully John will make lots of apple sauce for the winter. I will start some after work today.
I hope you have a lovely day.
miss c
35 Comments on “Rescuing Wild Birds with Trees”
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We definitely need more information about Felicity! (You may want to check out Isabelle de Borchgrave, truly the queen of “pulp costume”.) But Felicity looks like she has great potential.
She has a long way to go and in a few short days too! But I love this kind of stuff!
We lost our last cat this week. She was an old lady too, over 15 y.o. Sad day but she was suffering so glad that ended. When she was a young cat she did like to hunt-crickets, mice, shrews, lizards, baby rabbits and of course birds. It is their nature to hunt. We have decided no more cats at least for now.
Yes – it is in their nature – even when we’ll fed!!
Better get more cats. You will be plagued with mice. It is the balance of nature.
We have so many chickens and they are terrifying mousers!
I love your tree forest for the birds! That is the best!!!!!
Cats v wild life. Quite a conundrum. Beautiful trees. Sad at the idea of your house sinking into the marsh one day, but all things pass! Farmy looking lovely. X
If only my house was biodegradable/ then that would be perfect. An interesting concept – a compostable house.
we have always had at least one cat- our Lucy girl is 11 a nd an indoor only cat unless we take her for walks on a leash- no joking! That way she gets to enjoy the outdoors with us and we keep the birds safe from her. Our other cats over the years caught lots of rodents- and probably some birds- but they never presented them to us like they did the rodents! Have a lovely day- so enjoy your approach using trees! We have a forest behind our home- we get hawks, song birds, jays, some crows and of course hummingbirds!
I have never seen hummingbirds here – that would be wonderful
Interesting- maybe you do not have the flowers that they like- ?
Probably – not to mention tie hundreds of empty ( of trees) acres around us!
I agree! Trees are sooooooo important!
Our cats were pretty much indoor cats. If they went outside I was with them. They didn’t catch birds, although Arthur played with a mouse. Didn’t kill it. My house cat killed our parakeet, Oscar, though his cage was hanging from the ceiling. We think the cat used the piano as a step-up. We never got another bird with a cat in the house. Our fault.
They sure are hunters
I love your tree-legacy. One little patch of earth that is forever Celi and the Farmy Family…
I couldn’t agree more about the cats. We have several feral cats around, they tend to steer clear of my yard as the dogs go ballistic when they see them which is fine with me. I know it is their nature but I really hate the way they will torture something rather than just killing them outright.
I love birds more than cats though Lulu is a special old girl. That Vandal is a killer.
Me too
Fantastic chillies! Broadbent is a fairly uncommon name from Lancashire, but I do know a family of Broadbents in London.
One of my Spanish friends is fascinated by the squirrels and foxes in Islington!
I had a teacher called Mrs Broadbent in NZ – terrifying woman! London squirrels are pretty cute!
Ha ha – they are American squirrels 😉
There is nothing so sorrowful as the loss of a pet. I suppose outside barn cats are no less of a loss. 😦
All part of this weary web we weave.
Nanny Boo Have I really travelled to Illinois for so long . . . ? Always so lovely to see the day . . . would /so love to have a strong black with you in Wellington or Melbourne . . . .
Boo is pretty surprised himself.
I’m in agreement about letting the chooks take care of the mice and no more outside cats. Mine was a strictly indoor cat that thought she was a dog. Outside only on a leash. Love seeing Felicity! What a charmer. I have 7 pine trees that nature planted along the fence. I love the idea of a canopy of trees for the birds. We need more trees as we lost so many due to fires and then the ice storm. Time for me to go work in the front garden. Have a great week. Always thinking of you..
Yes! A busy week then on Friday I am off to see my grand children .
In which country? 🙂 Yay for you.
If I could grow a tree it would be an apple or a peach 🙂
Peach!!!
We love our birds and bees, so lots of trees and flowers here. No cats cos Deez hates damn cats… our share cat who is getting on now, lives next door, and is known to hunt the occasional bird even still… but she can’t get to the birds in our yard, and I’m sure they know it.
Small scale food forests take a very long time to mature, but can provide a natural environment for a host of local critters. While most of my work has focused on large scale food forests that last thousands of years, they can be built on areas as small as a half acre without too much challenge.
What wonderful work!