Rain Gauge Blockage

[Tau Bootis]

Hi All
I just noticed my rain graph and it has been registering a constant rainfall since midday but it stopped raining at 16:00,
at first I thought I had a malfunction with the transmitter then I checked the total rain so far and compared it with my
manual rain gauge; there was 5mm in that and about 4mm from the station.
It was then that I thought it could be blocked and just seeping through, I was right; a blackbird had used my newley modified rain gauge as a toilet!
I think I may have to attach some spikes to stop them percing on the rim of the funnel.
Any one else had this problem?

[werribee_au]

Sorry, but I had to laugh when I read that

[Gordon-Loomberah]

Not a blockage problem, but Butcher Birds often "make use" of my Davis rain gauge... More of a problem is the spiders that keep producing webs in and outside it, sometimes enough to stop the buckets tipping when I get a light sprinkle of rain. These days I try to clean the webs out every week or 2.

[steve]

I have the same problem but with Gulls.

[andrewinpopayan]

Duct tape a few knitting needles to the body of the gauge

I solved the spider problem by glueing some pieces of mesh taken off an old flour sieve onto the "outlet" holes on the bottom of the gauge.

[wd40]

On things like cherry trees and ground plants like strawberries an effective deterrent is running monofilament(fishing line) over the bush or tree. I use it as well.

Good article here.

http://animalrangeextension.montana.edu ... lament.htm

[Tau Bootis]

Strangely in the two years that I have had the WS, I have not had any spiders taking up residence; maybe that blackbird has been eating them

[nking]

On things like cherry trees and ground plants like strawberries an effective deterrent is running monofilament(fishing line) over the bush or tree. I use it as well.

Off topic - I have found fishing line also stops the Herons stealing fish from my pond.

[artworksmetal]

It is amazing what one can learn on this site.
My OS rain guage lived about 3 years without a spider problem - it came with a screen over the drain holes.
Question about the 'spikes' solution: do the birds hover over the rain gauge, or do they usually just perch and squat?

Seriously, I had the same problem with my hot tub lid. A big plastic owl seems to have done the trick nicely. Rubber snakes also make a good deterrent.