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Total depression has set in over Weazel Towers.
The bloke across the road has always had cats, ever since we moved here, but they were kind of lazy and slobby and never went much further than his front gate. Anyway, all 4 of them died off late last year and early this year and he's now just got himself 2 young cats.
In the 3 days since he's had them I've hardly seen a small bird here. Today's sightings consist of one Robin and one Sparrow. I've chased them bloody cats off my goldfish pond a dozen times already and have now resorted to letting the dogs out when I see them in my garden.
I know that's a bit cruel (even though my dogs won't hurt them) but I fear the last 10 years or so we've spent building up our delightful cast of visitors will all be for nowt - they'll either be killed in their nesting areas in the woods behind us or frightened away completely to a safer territory
Even the greedyguts wood pigeons didn't come down for their evening freebies.
The bloke across the road has always had cats, ever since we moved here, but they were kind of lazy and slobby and never went much further than his front gate. Anyway, all 4 of them died off late last year and early this year and he's now just got himself 2 young cats.
In the 3 days since he's had them I've hardly seen a small bird here. Today's sightings consist of one Robin and one Sparrow. I've chased them bloody cats off my goldfish pond a dozen times already and have now resorted to letting the dogs out when I see them in my garden.
I know that's a bit cruel (even though my dogs won't hurt them) but I fear the last 10 years or so we've spent building up our delightful cast of visitors will all be for nowt - they'll either be killed in their nesting areas in the woods behind us or frightened away completely to a safer territory
Even the greedyguts wood pigeons didn't come down for their evening freebies.
Le Chat Guerrier
Bwian's Towel & Grief Shop
10-May-2016 00:18:41
Oh no, poor you, I know how you feel. Our town garden is plagued by cats at times and we don't get as many birds. I am gradually making it less attractive to them (I hope).
You could try one of the sonic cat repellents - depending on the layout of your garden you may need a couple, mains is better than battery, but they may affect the dogs. Mine annoyed son and hubby - so they kept turning it off when they were near it, and forgot to turn it back on
I throw things in the direction of the cats - no intention or hope of hitting them, but they don't like the sudden noise it makes against fences and gates - tiny pebbles are good. I did use tiny reject potatoes in the summers, until I found potato plants sprouting in odd places.
I have a sonic gun I fire at the cats - but that depends if I see them or not as they go through. Your dogs probably won't appreciate it - not sure that my neighbours do either, but it is their cats being a pain, so I don't care!
Water blasters are good fun but they can hear them being pressure primed, so they escape. You could try using a movement activated sprinkler system - but it is annoying if you forget and get a blast yourself (speaking from experience).
If they get in your garden by just a couple of routes, make those difficult to get through. Anything spiky like brambles are useful.
We also have foxes at the moment which seem to make the cats more wary.
If you get on with your neighbour, you could ask him to deck them out with cat bells if you don't have any luck dissuading them from visiting.
You could try one of the sonic cat repellents - depending on the layout of your garden you may need a couple, mains is better than battery, but they may affect the dogs. Mine annoyed son and hubby - so they kept turning it off when they were near it, and forgot to turn it back on
I throw things in the direction of the cats - no intention or hope of hitting them, but they don't like the sudden noise it makes against fences and gates - tiny pebbles are good. I did use tiny reject potatoes in the summers, until I found potato plants sprouting in odd places.
I have a sonic gun I fire at the cats - but that depends if I see them or not as they go through. Your dogs probably won't appreciate it - not sure that my neighbours do either, but it is their cats being a pain, so I don't care!
Water blasters are good fun but they can hear them being pressure primed, so they escape. You could try using a movement activated sprinkler system - but it is annoying if you forget and get a blast yourself (speaking from experience).
If they get in your garden by just a couple of routes, make those difficult to get through. Anything spiky like brambles are useful.
We also have foxes at the moment which seem to make the cats more wary.
If you get on with your neighbour, you could ask him to deck them out with cat bells if you don't have any luck dissuading them from visiting.
One man's
Truth
is another man's
Lie
10-May-2016 15:38:00
I enjoyed reading some of this thread.
I just got into bird watching about 2 years ago. I have always loved animals, but started paying attention to birds recently. I guess before I had the attitude of "they all look the same". However, they really don't and they are such interesting creatures!
I purchased two bird books to help identify them. The RS*B one is really good and I've started to write down when and where I see each bird and now I'm on a mission to catch 'em all
The other book I purchased was Collins Bird Guide - So detailed!
Recently I added a few new birds to my book which were Siskin, Tree Creeper and a Dipper. It's addictive lol
I just got into bird watching about 2 years ago. I have always loved animals, but started paying attention to birds recently. I guess before I had the attitude of "they all look the same". However, they really don't and they are such interesting creatures!
I purchased two bird books to help identify them. The RS*B one is really good and I've started to write down when and where I see each bird and now I'm on a mission to catch 'em all
The other book I purchased was Collins Bird Guide - So detailed!
Recently I added a few new birds to my book which were Siskin, Tree Creeper and a Dipper. It's addictive lol
18-May-2016 21:40:23
I don't have any gear (except for a small pair of binoculars) and don't go to places just to see birds, but I do really enjoy watching the ones that visit me
It's definitely addictive!
I took up Bernadette's tip of chucking gravel at the cats - particularly at their fleeing ***** as they vanished over the fences - and what a satisfyingly loud and nerve-jangling racket it makes hitting the wood when thrown at maximum velocity in rage.
They seem to have somewhat taken the hint; the woodpeckers are visiting again plus the usual tiddlers such as robins, **** and the like. But the Goldcrests and Wagtails have vanished. Wondering if that's the cats or the lone magpie who's been hanging around a lot lately. Hoping it might be the abundance of natural food now and they just don't need my stuff any more this year.
It's definitely addictive!
I took up Bernadette's tip of chucking gravel at the cats - particularly at their fleeing ***** as they vanished over the fences - and what a satisfyingly loud and nerve-jangling racket it makes hitting the wood when thrown at maximum velocity in rage.
They seem to have somewhat taken the hint; the woodpeckers are visiting again plus the usual tiddlers such as robins, **** and the like. But the Goldcrests and Wagtails have vanished. Wondering if that's the cats or the lone magpie who's been hanging around a lot lately. Hoping it might be the abundance of natural food now and they just don't need my stuff any more this year.
Le Chat Guerrier
Bwian's Towel & Grief Shop
18-May-2016 22:20:58
Nice one Snuggly! I've got those two books as well along with the helm guide to bird identification for confusion species.
Listing (recording birds seen for a year/area/site etc) can be addictive but thankfully it doesn't appeal to me as I can get fairly obsessive over things.
I'd recommend checking your local birdwatching club twitter/website if you don't already as in the event something "good" turns up it is worth going to get it on your life list
birdforum is also full of info on everything relating to birds as well as what's about in the country.
Glad the cats seem to be sorted
Blackbirds have fledged from one nest not sure if the others have already or have been predated in the nest.
Listing (recording birds seen for a year/area/site etc) can be addictive but thankfully it doesn't appeal to me as I can get fairly obsessive over things.
I'd recommend checking your local birdwatching club twitter/website if you don't already as in the event something "good" turns up it is worth going to get it on your life list
birdforum is also full of info on everything relating to birds as well as what's about in the country.
Glad the cats seem to be sorted
Blackbirds have fledged from one nest not sure if the others have already or have been predated in the nest.
24-May-2016 21:51:04
Glad those cats are getting the message, Cat.
Whilst clearing out building and garden rubble from the bottom of the garden at the weekend we discovered a scratched out nest and one lone egg, which we have decided was a pheasant egg. The nest wasn't hidden, just there amongst the muddle. No parent bird came back to it, so we have decided it must have been abandoned
. It would have been quite interesting to have had a baby pheasant wandering around. The female pheasant taps on the patio doors; I assume she can see her own reflection.
Our first woodpecker was spotted feeding off the fatball feeder. It had been hung under some trees but I had moved it along the hedge so we could see it better - I wanted to see if sparrows were using it. it is interesting to see that some birds favour the front feeders and some the back.
I will have to rethink one of the fatball feeders as the rooks are far too efficient at emptying it. Before they got so clever, the feeder could last a few days for the smaller birds, now it can all disappear in less than a day.
We seem to have acquired a semi-resident red squirrel which has now been spotted quite a few times. At one point it appeared to be contemplating popping in through the open kitchen door. Now I am worried that when we are not there to fill the feeders he might get hungry and abandon us!
I did start keeping a list of birds I saw in the gardens but I kept forgetting to keep it up to date. I do keep looking to see if we have a tree creeper, but haven't spotted one yet.
Whilst clearing out building and garden rubble from the bottom of the garden at the weekend we discovered a scratched out nest and one lone egg, which we have decided was a pheasant egg. The nest wasn't hidden, just there amongst the muddle. No parent bird came back to it, so we have decided it must have been abandoned
. It would have been quite interesting to have had a baby pheasant wandering around. The female pheasant taps on the patio doors; I assume she can see her own reflection.
Our first woodpecker was spotted feeding off the fatball feeder. It had been hung under some trees but I had moved it along the hedge so we could see it better - I wanted to see if sparrows were using it. it is interesting to see that some birds favour the front feeders and some the back.
I will have to rethink one of the fatball feeders as the rooks are far too efficient at emptying it. Before they got so clever, the feeder could last a few days for the smaller birds, now it can all disappear in less than a day.
We seem to have acquired a semi-resident red squirrel which has now been spotted quite a few times. At one point it appeared to be contemplating popping in through the open kitchen door. Now I am worried that when we are not there to fill the feeders he might get hungry and abandon us!
I did start keeping a list of birds I saw in the gardens but I kept forgetting to keep it up to date. I do keep looking to see if we have a tree creeper, but haven't spotted one yet.
One man's
Truth
is another man's
Lie
25-May-2016 10:00:53 - Last edited on 25-May-2016 10:09:01 by Bernadette
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