Do You Feed Birds?

[Anthony Darby]

Two miles minimum Tom. I used to be plagued with mice, but since I got a snake that will only eat wild caught mice they are pretty thin on the ground.

[gote]

There certainly is such a thing (Sorry! 'person'  ) as a homing mouse.
Put small dabs of paint on them. Then you can give them names and say hellow the next time you meet them in the pub    (Or if you prefer: 'trap'  )
Göte

PS
  It probably depends on the area but they are known to home after being let loose 2 kms away.

[Alan B]

Only just found this thread.  We have bird feed out all year - nuts and fat balls. Seeing the thread made me become quite nerdish by deciding to count up how many species had been seen in the garden (as opposed to those flying over such as swallows, ravens,red kites etc) and the list came to 35.  Not bad really.  The most exotic was a cockatiel that hung around for a few days.  Never did find who had lost it.

[mark smyth]

35 is really good Alan. We have red kites here now but unfortunately one has already been poisoned

[Anthony Darby]

Only just found this thread.  We have bird feed out all year - nuts and fat balls. Seeing the thread made me become quite nerdish by deciding to count up how many species had been seen in the garden (as opposed to those flying over such as swallows, ravens,red kites etc) and the list came to 35.  Not bad really.  The most exotic was a cockatiel that hung around for a few days.  Never did find who had lost it.

Where abouts are you Alan?

[Alan B]

I am in South Wales Antony.  The easiest way to place me is by saying that I am only 4 or 5 miles from the end of the M4.
Sorry to hear about the poisoned Kite.  They look beautiful and have really made a come back.  In mid Wales where I have family farming connections I have seen numbers of them at one time and just a few years ago a pair started nesting in a copse on the farm.  They do no harm at all as they are scavengers and it makes me so annoyed to hear about people's attitude.
The same thing happened a few years ago to a pair of Choughs I spotted whilst walking on a coastal path.  They had moved this way from Pembrokeshire and just a few days later someone shot them.

[anne gibson]

We have taken two years to build up a  good visiting bird population and have a "pet" racing pigeon with a broken wing  which i rescued a few years ago -he is in  a large run in the garden but can only fly 6" in the air. We have lots of neighbour's cats who visit the garden and use it as a toilet and have to put up with this-though we "chunter" about it as we say round here.
This morning we saw a new young black cat trying to get at our pigeon (Sid) and frightening the poor bird witless. His run is pretty secure and my husband is at present working to make it even safer for him but I am worried that all our lovely birds will desert us now. Also that though Sid is safe he will be being harassed when we are not there to chase off the feline.
I have read about the Catwatch device which the RSPB sell and would like to buy one but at around £50 would like some in dependant opinion as to its effectiveness-
i have searched the forum and found the cat question comes up frequently so wondered if anyone has experience of the device. Like most people its not that we do not like cats-its just what they do.
ps we have a friend who calls them Cooking Fats!!!! 

[afw]

Anne,

Amazon sell a variety of electronic cat repellents at reasonable prices. I have two, one in the front garden & one facing a long border in the back garden. An universal adapter with an extension cable is also useful.

It is said that black, and old, cats tend to ignore them but they do keep the majority away.

Alan

[anne gibson]

Thank you for your reply Alan
I had read rather negative reports on the internet and did not want to buy one  if not effective.
Mind you we are only 20 miles away in Chesterfield  I hope they are not that effective that yours are sending the Belper cats here!
Anne

[Anthony Darby]

Well Garden Bird day has gone and went and I didn't see many in my garden. As Frank McAvennie probably never said "where's the burds?"

[Tony Willis]

What an awful day for the bird count. Two weeks ago we had upto fifty at any one time in a dozen species. Today four starlings a woodpidgeon and a bluetit.

 Perhaps they have all gone of to the country for spring.

[mark smyth]

I opened my bed room window this morning to see what was feeding and could see a brown blob moving on the snow. Went to get my glasses only to see a rat. I rushed down stairs to get a metal rod, opened the door and slowly moved towards it. It heard me and made a dash for it hole and I was in the middle. It leaped several feet from the raised bed to trough and disappeared down the back. AAAAGGGGGHHHHH

[wolfgang vorig]

birds in December in my garden

[Carol Shaw]

I opened my bed room window this morning to see what was feeding and could see a brown blob moving on the snow. Went to get my glasses only to see a rat. I rushed down stairs to get a metal rod, opened the door and slowly moved towards it. It heard me and made a dash for it hole and I was in the middle. It leaped several feet from the raised bed to trough and disappeared down the back. AAAAGGGGGHHHHH

You might want to get the pest control people in, where there is one rat there are more...

[Armin]

or simply try with cats...