Up till about twelve months ago I enjoyed the company of lots of little birds.

Eastern Spinebills, Red-browed Finches, Silvereyes, Willy Wagtails, Weebills, Thornbills and many more used to visit my front yard, away from my dog in the back yard.

I often saw a pile of little feathers and wondered what bird I'd lost.

Coincidentally, it was about the same time I noticed the CAT, a nice looking, lean animal. It seems that the arrival of said feline and the decline, and subsequent disappearance of small birds happened simultaneously.

Let me say at this point that I'm not a cat hater, I rather like them, and grudgingly admire their hunting prowess. What I DO hate is irresponsible cat owners who allow their pets to roam free.

I've discussed this with a few friends and they have all made the same suggestion, a couple of asprin in a saucer of milk and the cat wanders off home for the big sleep, but I think that's a bit extreme as the cat is not to blame for doing what is inbred in it to do. The blame lies with the owners who, unfortunately, are not the type of people you could approach to discuss the problem.

The only upside to this is that all the pesky sparrows have gone too.

What to do ???