It is about a foot higher than the old one. That was to try and deter cats that would go on it. Had to use another stake as the old one was rotten. And it is deeper and bigger than the old one, to try and stop spillage. I have a pic of a cat in the old one will put it up for you to see.
I absolutely sympathise, Willpar (great shot by the way ). Cats get everywhere and trying to outwit or thwart them is a full-time job. Good luck with that .
That pic was shot on the 24-4-2011. Plastic tends to go brittle when it gets old, so I had to replace it. This morning I went out and turned the feeder a quarter of a turn. Now it is smack bang in the middle of the tree. And already I have had three blue tits, a robin and pied wagtail on it.
Yes I see them around butterfly. In fact one came on the tree but I scared it away when I opened the door. They have been on the other garden eating out of the coconut shell. That one is all but empty now so I will have to re-fill it. So they are about. Plus I cleaned the hanging wooden feeders that have roofs and put their normal food in there. Don't want them going without and it keeps them coming.
My trip to catch starlings murmurate was a success . I drove to RSPB Ham Wall, my friend in tow, as the numbers there are high this year, around 30 000 starlings roost there. We were just a bit unlucky with the place we picked to wait for them to come, because they went a bit further to the other side. But nevertheless, it was an unbelievable experience! Not only they performed their dance, but the chattering when they settled down on the ground was super loud and went on for a while. Absolutely fantastic unforgeable experience . If I can, I will go again to that awesome place
I took a few videos, and they are not the best ever, because I didn't manage to capture many of the groups joining for various reasons, crowd of fans getting in the way , weather (started to drizzle by that time ) , missing the direction they are coming from etc. , but I want to share with you few half decent ones . Here they are: