Pussy patrol

These things work, you know.

When I lived in a flat in Lakemba, I had terrible trouble discouraging pigeons from nesting on my balcony. If you went on holidays for any longer than a few weeks, you'd come home to a pair of eggs sitting in a pot plant. (The woman next door even let a few hatch on her balcony, and the subsequent baby pigeons continued to "home" for many years.)

I read somewhere that all I needed was a cat silhouette, and the pigeons would go elsewhere. but I never got around to making one. (Of course, for the first six years or so, I had my own pet cat on guard.) Rubber snakes were also supposed to be effective, but I made do with totally ineffective wire coathangers, that were supposed to jangle in the breeze and scare off the birds.

Moving to Penrith and a house with a garden, the pigeons were no longer a problem, although magpies and other birds often sheltered on the back decking. The problem was particularly noticeable when I bought new outdoor furniture. You'd come outside with your breakfast - and every chair would be covered in bird poo.

The garden also attracted birds rooting around looking for grubs. Now, attracting birds to a garden is supposed to be a good idea, but they do create a terrible mess, tossing all the bark chips into the pool in their enthusiasm The rubber snakes trick actually works, I've discovered - although they can give humans a nasty shock as well, particularly when you hear of real brown snakes caught in your street. Not to mention the huge red-bellied black snake I met near Penrith Railway Station one spring.

Then I found the cat silhouettes. They look really cool and they really freak out the birds. The cats do work themselves loose from the fishing line every once in a while, and they were rather ineffective just propped against the fences. But I put them all up again the other day and, just a few minutes later, it began to rain. Sure enough, a young magpie winged into the verandah, seeking shelter... straight into the path of a cat silhouette. He took fright, made another pass, meet a second hanging cat, squawked an annoyed comment - and flew off to perch on next door's balcony. And crapped on it. ;-)