I went down the suspend-the-feeder-from-the-wire route - they learnt to shimmy along the wire within 24 hours. I put plastic baffles (made from flowerpots) on the wire, they learnt to leap from trees and bushes. The only place in the garden I could suspend the feeder where they perhaps would have struggled to jump onto it would have looked ridiculous. The solution is to buy something like this:
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've never seen such frustration and fury as when the squirrels first found that the nuts had been imprisoned in one of those. They wasted many fruitless hours rattling the bars.
I also got some proper traps for them (and I'm not talking about those ones where you catch them and let them out again!).
Use a flat piece of metal or strong plastic etc, and slot it alternately on 2 sides. Now the wire is put through the open slots alternately so it zigzags, and no sliding occurs due to friction.
Not sure if you get the description, but its simple and works well.
To put up a clothes line here we use metal clips which come in small package. The open clips are put round the line and then squeezed around the metal cored line with a pair of pliers etc. Typically one makes a loop in the end of of the line, formed with one or two of the clips and hooks it around something at one end. Then the other end can be kept tightened to something substantial such as the house or shed etc. We usually use a turnbuckle to keep line tight so that even with a load of wet towels it doesn't sag much. But there's no reason the clips can't be used mid span, one part squeezed around the cable and the other part around some sort of a stop or a very short piece of same metal cored clothes line to make a 'stop', or a loop can be made in the line using a clip. Couple of points though; we use rope hung feeders and the rope on which they hang can be looped around the line from which they are hung. A suitably strong point from which to suspend any line (such as a clothes line or line onto which to hang feeders) can be made from a bi- pod; two sticks tied or bolted together at the top. With the line tied back to the base of a tree, fence post or whatever behind the bi-pod. Need line tighter, move the two sticks closer together and/or slightly more upright. One advantage also is the the bi-pod can be laid flat on the ground in order to wheel a wheelbarrow or trolley, or drive past/ over it; without undoing the line. We have two clothes lines not much used in winter and it is quite possible to hang fairly heavy wooden feeders holding a pound or so of seed each, from those! Pretty sure those clips and metal cored line available in UK; had a message exchange a few years ago with a radio amateur near the Grampians (Scotland?) about using metal cored clothes line for radio antennae. And those clips were mentioned. Metal cored lines, unless the more expensive stainless variety, will eventually rust out. But my Grampian Hills contact mentioned that even in his windy and damp climate the cheaper stuff lasted (as radio antenna/aerials) for quite a few years. And also had the advantage of being relatively cheap compared to copper cable/wire!!!! One of our clothes lines is about 6 feet off the ground, parallel to back of the house and some short distance away from bedroom window. Hooking up in a rough and ready manner even a cheap radio onto it to we have on occasion picked up here, close to the most easterly point of North America some European Long Wave radio stations, usually quite weakly. So line served not only as clothe line it's also a make-do radio antenna! There was supposed to be a new LW station coming on air from the Isle of Man, on 279 kilohertz, a few years ago? IIRC? Nothing much heard since?
"a knot used to attach a rope to a rod, pole, or other rope. A simple friction hitch, it is used for lengthwise pull along an object rather than at right angles. The Rolling hitch is designed to resist lengthwise movement for only a single direction of pull"
so does that mean it will tend to slide or tend to undo in my "non lengthwise pull" application?
Oddly mine is similar and I have never had problems with squirrels. But I did notice that one rather fat pigeon had learnt to fly at it from the fence swing on it and then down to the ground to feed on the droppings. Repeat until too fat to get back of the ground. Seemed to have stopped now. I think it got too fat and was prey to the neighbours cat.
I doubt if a rolling hitch or clove hitch will hold very well on a 2mm wire. Knots like these are really intended for use on quite large ropes such as ship's rigging.
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