Monday 15 June 2009

The Strawberry Thief



I have been a very quiet blogger for the past few days as our phone & internet connection was down all weekend, but the nice BT man was out bright & early this morning & has reconnected us to the outside world.


I do have various things to share with you but I'll start with a complaint about my stolen strawberries.

You all probably know the William Morris print called "The Strawberry Thief"?
Well, I have one such feathered thief myself - he or she keeps feast
ing on my strawberries (they do make a nice breakfast I'm sure) so we netted the strawberries so that we could try & beat him to it.

Seems the little thief was far too clever for his own good & managed to get under the net to eat the strawberries but couldn't get out again & that's how I caught him red-handed (or is that red-beaked?)




So, instead of sending him off to prison I had to release him - his head & wings were caught in the netting so I had to cut it off. He was not very pleased about his situation so was shouting insults at me all through the rescue operation.






And just for good measure he had a go at pecking the hand that was rescuing him....ungrateful yob!


Eventually all the netting was removed & he hopped off in disgust, none the worse for wear, but hurling abuse over his shoulder as he went....rural crime really is a big problem these days!


18 comments:

  1. Just wonderful! Hope he hasn't flown just down the road to us, we don't tolerate that sort of behaviour at Coalpit Heath!! Ha! Ha! x

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  2. Crimes committed these days really are shocking!

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  3. Great post!!!! Maybe he won't be back since he got in so much trouble!! lol!
    ♥ Teresa

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  4. Ha ha...little devil!
    In answer to your question...I'm not growing strawberries but Nich has taken over part of the garden and (not happy with the success he is having with salad crops and veg), he's hoping to grow various items of fruit!
    ;-)

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  5. What a naughty teenager!

    Tracey

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  6. Oh no! I am just off out to pick the raspberries before the birdies beat us to it! Is the birdie thief actually a "she" as I think it's a female blackbird? Interesting to see your shots of the thief close-up! Hope you have some strawberries left for yourselves. I've been making strawberry jam this morning, hulled 6.5lbs of them so I'm all "strawberried" out.
    Thanks very much indeed for the copy of the newspaper. The Munchkin thinks I am famous (ha ha!) and I know my mum and dad will like to see it. More importantly, the Fair was such a success!
    Hen x

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  7. Oh but look he is quite cute really ;0)

    xx

    Sam x

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  8. Great story - who was taking the pics? Last year our dog was our main strawberry thief, but this year my son (the gardener) has thwarted her by getting me to replant his strawberries in pots on a high shelf! I'm glad your computer is up and running agan.

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  9. Oh, what a riot! I'm glad you had camera handy. I had almost the same situation this weekend, but my culprit was a squirrel! I didn't know they like strawberries. So, like you, I had to put the netting on - so far, so good!

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  10. Loved that story! Great photos too!

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  11. He does look very ungrateful! and we think the countryside is such a safe place!

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  12. Oh no!!! Poor little thing... but what about your hand???!!! We usually have chipmunks eating the strawberries. Our blackberries will be fodder soon if I don't cover the tiny green berries quickly!

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  13. What a sorry thief this one made! Some Mums do 'ave 'em!!!
    hugs
    Sandi

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  14. Brilliantly captured (in net & photos)!
    Lesley X

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  15. William Morris certainly knew what he was talking about! Your very own strawberry thief. Was it a blackbird fledgling? Woodlice eat all my strawberries. I missed one later to find it floating in my cream! x

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  16. I've un netted my strawberries now, as it didn't really stop the thiefs.
    Besides we are turning into strawberries we've eaten so many!
    Summerfete

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