Disaster!

I went out onto my balcony this morning to find almost all my tomato seedlings had gone!! Completely disappeared with the container remaining. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. There are no dried up plants - the soil was wet. The soil is still in there. It isn't reachable from any other balcony (and if a person had taken them, the whole container would be gone). No. It wasn't the weather, moisture content or people - it was pigeons!!

Exploring my balcony about a month ago. The seedlings are safely under cover at that time

Yes, pigeons. Then to prove my case against them, they keep coming to my balcony while I'm having breakfast and working at my computer and pecking at other pots and plants. I'm devastated. Just after my failure with the up-side-down tomatos and me telling everyone - no worries, I have more seedlings. sigh. I'm left with one, which was half pulled out and lying on its side.

My daughter, Zara, and I sowed the seeds about a month ago. They had been growing very slowly in general as the weather has been very bad and there hasn't been much sun in the afternoons as needed. I'd taken the lid off the seed starter as they were getting too big for it and I was going to re-pot them today. I'd been checking them each evening for water content and they were doing ok. Then - pigeon attack!
On a brighter note, I do have some in normal pots still. Most of them are still small, like the other seedlings. So, I'll have to keep protecting them. But one has shot up and is already 20cm plus. It must be in the perfect tomato growing spot on my balcony. Thank goodness for that.

Here it is with the arrow pointing at it. The other plant in the pot is basil, which is a famous companion plant for tomatos - in growing and cooking :)