Our Garden Birds

[SueA]

That's the third one that the same cat has caught since we moved here grindle, we've found wood pigeons half eaten at the end of the garden before & the cat shooting off over the fence, it's a lovely friendly cat but seems hungry & is a good hunter. The wood pigeons are so dopey & slow that they must make easy targets though as they amble down the lawn, I keep poking sticks & bits of holly in the borders to try & stop the cat hiding in ambush there.

[grindle]

it's very difficult to stop them, I have one or two hunters that regularly come here, neither the birds or the fish are safe

[SueA]

A pair of great tits have decided to build a nest in the dilapidated ornamental caravan on the side of the garage - not the best place to choose as it looks as though the magpies have already had a go at it but maybe they will nest elsewhere if they get pestered. Some pics. ( mine & O.H.'S ) taken through the window.

[grindle]

great pictures SueA

[squirel]

Love the bird house. Magpies are a real nuisance though live and let live is my moto. Love cats to and have had five over the years, all rescued. Strangely couple of them were horrors catching birds but rest never bothered.

[SueA]

I've started putting grapefruit skin in the borders where the little tiger cat hides as I've read they don't like the smell of citrus & it seems to have worked for a few days but we'll wait & see. Lots of birds have been scouting around the garden in couples looking for nest sites this weekend & the great tits have been visiting the 'caravan' but don't look as though they've made their minds up yet. I had a cat at our old house squirel who had been a stray but she rarely tried to catch birds after I adopted her.

[squirel]

Loving cats and birds our bird houses have been put up at the top of house walls under eaves, Or on the top of a very long pole that the cats can't climb. Have still got a bird house that my Dad made me in the early 80's up under the eaves on a house we sold many years ago. Know its still there as visited there last year.

[ziggy]

I spotted the first swallows of the season today! They were too fast for a photo though.. lol

[Bess]

Over the last year or so, I've noticed a couple of dead blackbirds in the garden. I put it down to wandering cats, but wondered why they didn't eat them. (I knew it wasn't our cats, as Amber would have brought them in and presented them to us, along with all the others! And the other two cats are too old and toothless to bother.)

However my neighbour says he's seen the local Big Nasty Crows divebomb on blackbirds, on the roof, and break their necks. Apparently they did it again the other day. I love my blackbirds - why would Crows do that? Is it normal?

[SueA]

That does sound a bit odd Bess, I can see crows would maybe attack a blackbird especially if it was weak or injured but then I think they'd eat it not just leave it on the ground, they're nesting now like everything else so would be looking for food. They do drive other birds out of their territory too when nesting but that's usually bigger birds they would consider a threat to their fledglings such as buzzards, sparrowhawks, owls & maybe magpies. If the dead blackbirds haven't got a mark on them maybe they've flown into a window & broken their necks but if they look slightly chewed or a bit damp I'd guess it was just a local cat killing for sport not food, I've found the odd dead young blackbird slightly chewed & hidden under the arbour at the end of the garden by the local cats.

[Deleted]

I love blue tits:

[joysie21]

I havent seen any birds at all this week were have they gone

[grindle]

this is the time of year when they moult joysie21 they tend to be scarce in the garden but they will soon be back www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/garden-birds-august-summer-lull

[SueA]

Haven't seen many of the tiny birds around here recently either but then the female sparrowhawk has been flying over a lot. The pigeons, wood pigeons & starlings still call in regularly though in big gangs (safety in numbers!)& the baby robin pops down when other birds arrive to give him a bit of cover.

[joysie21]

Grindle I never knew that so was very interested reading what they get up to in august thank you