But then I noticed that the branches somehow looked slightly lighter – as though some of the nicer red fruit was no longer present. Then yesterday I saw the culprit – a large jay was sitting in the branches having a munch. When the ‘shy denizen of the woodlands’ (that is a quote from the RSPB website by the way) saw me, it gave me a searching look and flew off with a cherry in its beak.

So knowing that those Jays can eat peanuts at the rate of about two a second I sadly had to go and pick the still slightly under ripe fruit before they cleared the tree. I think I will make a cherry pie and freeze it for the harvest festival in September.

I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of the cherry thief red handed, but here he (or another member of the family) is on the nut feeder.