A Frog and No Cats

Raining again last night. I don't mind when the rain arrives overnight and leaves the day free to observe the garden wildlife. When Bobby went out for the last patrol of his estate before bedtime I spotted a shape on the concrete path. Closer examination showed it was a frog just sitting there. It even waited patiently while I fetched a camera to take a few shots.



This is the UK's Common Frog easily identified by the dark coloured stripes on the hind legs. Main diet is insects which it catches with its long sticky tongue, snails, slugs and worms. During the Winter it will hibernate under mud and decaying layers of leaves at the bottom of ponds. As well as lungs it has the ability to breathe through its skin so can stay submerged for long periods during the cold months. This one was about 2 inches (5cm) big so had been around for a few years.

Cats and Birds Don't Mix

There is at least one killer cat which is more than a little nuisance around my bird feeders. To keep it off the top of my fence I have added some modern plastic anti-vandal spikes. The type with blunt points which are uncomfortable but do not pierce the skin. As well as that I needed some way to keep them from skulking behind various objects on the ground. For quite a while I have looked into the possibility of using one of the electronic cat deterrents.  Looking closely at the description of many they deter all sorts of mammals but I needed something more specific.

After quite a bit of research I spotted this - the Cat Gard - which says it does not affect other mammals or birds so I invested in one.

  

Many of the ultrasonic deterrents are battery operated, needing two 9V batteries. This one is mains operated via a transformer and comes with a generous 10m of cable. It is installed 3 to 6 feet above ground so I mounted it on the shed wall facing along the fence. As it is not 100 percent weather proof I fixed it in an old nut feeder to keep the worst of the rain and snow from the plastic case.

When it first arrived I plugged it indoors. Bobby definitely knew it was working although I could hear nothing. In fact it was too much for him and he dashed out to escape being deafened. Once installed outside he took no notice of it at all. Would the birds be affected by it? Well - within 15 minutes of putting it up a Greenfinch flew up to it and gave it the once over. About half an hour later a Blue Tit landed in the box and had a quick look for any food! All the birds have carried on feeding as normal. So far I have not seen any evidence of cats since it was installed though the instructions do say it can take a while to achieve 100 percent success.

Out of interest I used my bat detector to find out what the Cat Gard was doing and here is a short snippet of the sort of thing a cat would have to endure.

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