One step ahead of the squirrels?

In my day job with the RSPB, I spend much of my time out in the communities local to the projects I'm involved with.

And this week, I was delighted to visit the home of a parish councillor, who not only is a joy to work with on a major project creating the new RSPB Medmerry nature reserve (the largest realignment of the open coast in Europe, I'll have you know!) but also has a lovely garden in which he does loads of things to give wildlife a home.

Sat in his kitchen, eating very fine home-made cake (one of the perks of my job), I was admiring his line of bird feeders strung across one end of the garden

Now my photo, very unhelpfully, shows it devoid of birds, but at times it was thronged with Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Starlings and House Sparrows. Yellowhammers even visit.

I could see that feeders 3 and 5 (from the left) were the ones which close under the weight of a squirrel, closing off the food supply.

But what really impressed me was the stainless steel tensioned wire on which the feeders were hung.

This, Keith told me, was his main line of defence against squirrels chomping their way through most of the bird food - the wire is just too difficult for them to navigate, even when the squirrels are hung upside down as they like to do.

Now I know many of you are engaged in a similar battle of wits with these cute but ever so gluttonous creatures. So what are your tricks of the trade? Or are they currently one step or athletic-squirrel-leap ahead of you?!