This morning I went to open my big greenhouse up to check on things to find that I,d managed to catch a Bluetit on one of my yellow sticky traps. The poor thing was held by tail and wing primary feathers, I,d never considered that these traps would be a danger to "our" birds. We often have the small birds foraging in both greenhouses and have never had any cause to exclude them. This is the first year I,ve used sticky traps in a bid to avoid aphid/greenfly attack, thankfully I chose non toxic traps but it was still a desperate job to release the Bluetit. It took about an hour and after trying various solvents we had to trim feathers to release it. While we had it we dusted it with talc to stop or at least reduce further spread of the adhesive and then let it go. It,s mate had to feed it and their chicks (it,s one the pair nesting in the house wall nest hole we left open), until it finally reappeared this evening at the nest very wary. I.ve removed the traps and binned them, I,ll manage the aphids/greenfly some other way. It was not until I was online later that I found these things advertised as mouse traps!! Just be aware everyone.
