Real-Life Tom And Jerry

We have a real-life Tom and Jerry situation going on right outside the kitchen window. There’s a small shrub type bush which provides cover for small birds and now a mouse.

Feed The Birds

My better half feeds the birds regularly and because it’s a small garden, we get to see quite a lot of our different feathered friends. All colours, all shapes and sizes. I know they appreciate the food, especially during the colder months. However, living where we are, almost in the middle of nowhere, we get the odd ‘not so nice’ visitors. Sparrow Hawks looking for small birds they can have for their tea.

Jerry

Then there’s the mouse. We first saw this particular one, ‘Jerry’ a month or so ago, jumping out of a small dry stone wall we had built and jumped back into it with a prized nut. After one or two more visits we hadn’t seen any more of him until earlier this week. Meanwhile, the killer cat from next door, ‘Tom’, was seen in the garden. Like all felines, he seems to have a sixth sense of where a mouse or mice maybe.

Live And Let Live

I’m a great believer in that this world is shared with all sorts of living creatures and they have as much right to be here as we do. Although I can’t say I’d like to share the inside of the house with some critters like mice or voles. I’m more than happy they stay outside in the garden. So it was on Monday, something caught my eye that wasn’t a bird. It was the mouse, darting from underneath the bush, grab a seed and rush back to safety.

Lots Of Small Birds

This went on for about 20 minutes and we both watched in amazement as it’s only about 2 feet away on the other side of the kitchen window. I think the sheer number of small birds eventually frightened him away and we didn’t see him return from the protection of the shrub. I expect we may not see him again for a while as is usually the case.

Tom’s Here

Sometime this afternoon, ‘Tom’ turned up, moving slowly through the garden, his hooter sniffing away at something in the air. His eyes had a steely determination about them, he knew we were behind the kitchen window yet it didn’t bother him. He had that Tiger like move about him as he stealthily made his way closer to the shrub where the mouse was last seen. Once he reached it, he sniffed, first above and then deeper underneath until half of his body was in there.

Fingers Crossed

We both held our breaths as we didn’t want to see any harm come to ‘Jerry’, yet we don’t want to try and meddle with nature, shooing ‘Tom’ away. As it was, he withdrew from the shrub and sat down next to it. He stayed in the same position until darkness descended and only moved to check the odd movement of the shrub which turned out to be the wind. We’ve seen ‘Tom’ hunting in the fields around and about and he is a master. Fingers crossed, he’s met his match here. I will keep you posted.

All about the real Tom and Jerry here.