Just Taken Advantage Of!

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Just Taken Advantage Of!

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 18: A squirrel shares a bird feeder with some birds on December 18, 2009 in Carshalton Beeches, England. Heavy snow fell across much of south east england today, causing general travel disruption and the temporary closure of airports. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Starling (Photo credit: Laura Whitehead)

I think I must be the archetypal kind of guy that will do most things for anyone. Knock on my door and ask for help with anything and I'm your man-as long as none of it is going to cost me money that is! And as long as you don't want to borrow the same thing more than three times, 'cos that is when its time you bought your own I reckon.

A sparrow after eating some bird seed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now I don't mind being of help to people, but, I get the feeling that I am being used. It's not something new. I've had the feeling for a number of years now. And whats more, it's costing me money. What is it that's costing me money? Bird seed, that's what. About four years ago I came over all philanthropic-perfectly legal I'm assured. I had decided to say goodbye to full time work. The routine of getting up at 5.30am five days a week, showering and then driving to work had lost it's appeal. Whats more, the on-call duties were even more of a pain in the proverbial. Get home at whatever time, just in time to get a call to say something had gone wrong and I was needed to to go back in and either fix it myself or get someone in to do it. So, back in to work for as long as it took to fix it-might be ten minutes, might be several hours. No Sir, that was no longer the life for me.

Trouble was, after a couple of weeks I got bored. What to do I thought. Feed the birds! That's what I'll do, feed the birds. not too complicated, not too time consuming and not too expensive. Well, it wasn't at that time. Sunflower seeds were about sixty pence a kilo. I had three modest size feeders hung up on the pergola, nothing posh. I started with 2 kilo's of seed. Couple of weeks passed by with hardly a bird in sight. I began to think I'd wasted my money.

Two days or so later, I had a change of heart. First the sparrows arrived. Just a couple or so at first, then a few more and a few more and then even more. Two kilos didn't last long then. Off I went to get more. This time though, it cost me 70 pence a kilo. Thought nothing of it. Got home filled the feeders and watched what happened next. Now, I'm not a well educated guy when it comes to bird spotting and knowing what they are called, but I soon started learning.

Next in were the Starlings. They came in by the shed load. Despite the books telling me that they are ground feeders, the clever little so-and-so's soon learnt how to cling to a feeder and empty it in record time. So far, not too much in the way of colour you will have noted.

Greenfinches. They are such a grumpy looking bird. Even the female of the species has the kind of look that not my toothless old granny could compete with. Added colour though. The big breakthrough came one morning when we were joined in the garden by our first ever Blue Jay. Stunning colours. We were also joined by a squirrel. Just how cunning can they get, didn't matter what I did to prevent them reaching the seed, they outplayed me. Trouble was, seed was spilled all over the ground. Fear not though, a brigade, flock, gang, or whatever the collective noun for feral pigeons is, soon arrived to hoover it all up. More seed please. No problem, off to the bird seed shop I went. Another 4 kilo's. Pound a bag by this time. Thought nothing of it-all in a good cause.

Bird - Blue Jay (Photo credit: blmiers2)

Next up were the Goldfinches. What a beautiful bird this is to be sure. They came in droves. What started as a minor time wasting activity, turned into very much a regular feature of my day, keeping the place clean feeders topped up, and trying to outwit the ever more cunning squirrels. So, what is the point I'm trying to make here?



Carduelis carduelis English: A European Goldfinch on a garden bird feeder in the United Kingdom. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My point is thus. Since I started in a modest way to do my little bit for what the RSPB had me believing was a needy cause, I have been taken advantage of by the companies that supply bird seed to people like me. What started as a 60 pence per kilo product, is, as of this week, a £2.85 pence per kilo product. Taking advantage or what? Not even my favourite pint has gone up by such a large percentage over four years, nor has my newspaper, or even the foodstuffs I buy for human consumption. Will I continue to buy the seeds? Yes, of course I will. I enjoy seeing the birds, those mentioned above along with Blackbirds, Wrens and others, visiting not just to feed themselves, but bringing their new chicks in to feed them during the breeding season.

Yes, I, and thousands like me ARE being taken advantage of. We will keep on doing it though. I know, I'll moan about anything won't I? Deep down inside though, I know its my little contribution to helping preserve some of the endangered species of garden visitors. Kinda heart warming really.