As responsible cat owners, we will build a cat enclosure before we allow the cats outside.  Our intention was to have this enclosure built before we moved in, but the existring fence structure was not strong enough to support the cat netting we need to secure to it.  The new fencing materials are due to arrive this week,  so with a bit of luck we can get the enclosure built over the next week or so.  Unfortunately, the delay in building the enclosure has posed us with a real habitat dilema. Our fenced yard is the playground for a delightful family of Superb Fairy Wrens, and a food source for the Red Wattle Bird.

The lattice fence, which needs to be removed, has a climbing rose intertwined through the lattice.  The wrens appear to live in the dense part of the rose, and they spend most of their day hopping around the yard looking for food or singing from the top of the gate, or the weeping cherry. Every time I see them my spirits are lifted and I have been known to laugh out loud at their antics.  The female wren will often cling to the fly wire on the window to peer into the kitchen.  This usually happens when I am preparing food on the other side of the glass. Over the past two months, I have grown so fond of these birds that I don’t want to shut them out of their home.  I want to see them every day.   The reality is that the cats also need their space.  They are becoming a little stir crazy, and are beginning to miaow at the door to go outside.  In our former house, they had an outside enclosure, and they love sitting outside in the sun.  So unless we come up with a brilliant solution, the wrens will need to move to the other side of the new fence.  I know they will survive and we can plant new bushy habitat, but they won’t be at my kitchen window for much longer, and I will miss seeing them hopping along the window ledge and the gate.

These tiny birds can actually sit inside the squares created by the lattice. We do plan to leave one section of the latice intact as this section is strong, and it allows a view of our driveway from the kitchen window – useful when we’re expecting visitors and good for security.  However,  it would greatly upset me to find a handful of feathers on the ground when the cats occupy the space.   The dilema is that shutting the wrens out of the space by putting cat netting over the lattice that remains still won’t make them safe.  Recently we discovered two stray cats  (or perhaps cats belonging to one of our neighbours) on the decking which surrounds our house. They have been there two nights in a row now.  While we can contain our own cats, it is more difficult to keep stray cats away.  We will continue to weigh up the pros and cons of  putting cat netting over the lattice to stop the birds flying into the cat enclosure, or leaving it bare  to allow them access to the yard at their own peril. This is a decision for another day.  Step one is to get the new fence built.   Suggestions welcome on this one.