Sparrows are declining in numbers. I find it rather sad that you are trying to prevent them accessing food. We are pleased to see any species of bird in our garden, even pigeons.
We have been feeding the wild birds in our garden for years, and even though we have two cats, they never been able to catch an adult bird, they have caught a baby once but didn't kill it themselves, it died of fright. Now the birds tease them as both our cats have developed big tummies that hang down, they know they can never catch them.
Now to the rat problem, we had rats a year or so ago. They are gone now, our white cat seemed to have scared them off, but they never came near our bird feeders, we use peanuts, sunflower hearts, fat balls, fat cubes, fat coconuts and raisins and sometimes the odd dried or live mealworm. But never did they come up from the bottom of the garden, our plot is quite long see, but quite thin too. But we did change the food quite regularly, and we constantly have doves, pigeons and jackdaws and our local kites about. As well as a couple of cheeky greater spotted woodpeckers who beat holes into the bird table and archway. Luckily they haven't started on the greenhouse yet!
Lovely picture Doghouse - robins are such faithful birds, they keep us company in the garden whatever the weather and I had the privileged of feeding a mother and youngster last year - everyday they feasted on the seed I put out on the garden wall for them and became quite tame. Sadly the neighbours have now cleared all the hedges and trees from the birds nesting site - I wonder if the robins will return and find another site to make a nest.
After years without a rat problem, this year we have them. A rat-box under the shrubs near the main feeder seems to be working, fingers crossed. The niger seed is untouched again, like last year, but I have never seen so many sparrows....who said they were scarce? We get the usual blue and great tits, the occasional coal tit, but whole flocks of long tailed tits, so cute with their pink tummies. At the moment we are feeding fat balls, peanuts and the unused niger seed. I have also seen wrens and of course robins and blackbirds. I think our biggest asserts are the two large mahonia bushes which the birds love - the tits take the flowers and insects at this time of year and the blackbirds bring their babies in the spring to feed on the berries. The ground feeders are having a ball in the dead leaves under the holly hedge.
We used to have a lot of goldfinches, but their numbers dropped last year and I haven't seen any this.
Don't forget it's the big RSPB Bird Count weekend at the end of January.
In my garden sparrows are certainly not scarce; they keep flocking in. Maybe I was not clear in my explanations. I do not want to deprive sparrows of food, I want to stop them 'stealing' it from my preferred kind of birds, viz. the blue & the black tits, that's all.
However, the sparrows got a bit cleverer and managed to remove the plastic 'skirt' protection (see my previous post here & photos). I have improved the system, with a ceramics 'hat' (courtesy of my OH, see her site at http://www.rezeau.org/wp-jacqueline/en/welcome/ ).
Blue tit in waiting with sparrow appearing at bottom of pic.
Sparrow trying (in vain) to reach at the protected grease ball
Have you never had a bird with beak or feet stuck in the netting? I have and would never use them now. I’ve rescues so many, here I don’t even buy them with nets on them.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Never use netting ...we just use simple feeders ......we attract an interesting array of birds ...even some flying squirrels ....the robins here can we a bit tetchy with the tits ....sorry for the poor quality .....
Posts
We do enjoy watching the antics of the different birds and being a BTO garden birdwatcher send numbers of birds each week for the records.
Sparrows are declining in numbers. I find it rather sad that you are trying to prevent them accessing food. We are pleased to see any species of bird in our garden, even pigeons.
We have been feeding the wild birds in our garden for years, and even though we have two cats, they never been able to catch an adult bird, they have caught a baby once but didn't kill it themselves, it died of fright. Now the birds tease them as both our cats have developed big tummies that hang down, they know they can never catch them.
Now to the rat problem, we had rats a year or so ago. They are gone now, our white cat seemed to have scared them off, but they never came near our bird feeders, we use peanuts, sunflower hearts, fat balls, fat cubes, fat coconuts and raisins and sometimes the odd dried or live mealworm. But never did they come up from the bottom of the garden, our plot is quite long see, but quite thin too. But we did change the food quite regularly, and we constantly have doves, pigeons and jackdaws and our local kites about. As well as a couple of cheeky greater spotted woodpeckers who beat holes into the bird table and archway. Luckily they haven't started on the greenhouse yet!
Lovely picture Doghouse - robins are such faithful birds, they keep us company in the garden whatever the weather and I had the privileged of feeding a mother and youngster last year - everyday they feasted on the seed I put out on the garden wall for them and became quite tame. Sadly the neighbours have now cleared all the hedges and trees from the birds nesting site - I wonder if the robins will return and find another site to make a nest.
Rebecca, my well fed cat doesn't catch the birds either, they are hardly scared of her any more, they know she can't be bothered.
After years without a rat problem, this year we have them. A rat-box under the shrubs near the main feeder seems to be working, fingers crossed. The niger seed is untouched again, like last year, but I have never seen so many sparrows....who said they were scarce? We get the usual blue and great tits, the occasional coal tit, but whole flocks of long tailed tits, so cute with their pink tummies. At the moment we are feeding fat balls, peanuts and the unused niger seed. I have also seen wrens and of course robins and blackbirds. I think our biggest asserts are the two large mahonia bushes which the birds love - the tits take the flowers and insects at this time of year and the blackbirds bring their babies in the spring to feed on the berries. The ground feeders are having a ball in the dead leaves under the holly hedge.
We used to have a lot of goldfinches, but their numbers dropped last year and I haven't seen any this.
Don't forget it's the big RSPB Bird Count weekend at the end of January.
@Doghouse,
Love your pic of your robin-in-residence!
@sarahevb,
In my garden sparrows are certainly not scarce; they keep flocking in. Maybe I was not clear in my explanations. I do not want to deprive sparrows of food, I want to stop them 'stealing' it from my preferred kind of birds, viz. the blue & the black tits, that's all.
However, the sparrows got a bit cleverer and managed to remove the plastic 'skirt' protection (see my previous post here & photos). I have improved the system, with a ceramics 'hat' (courtesy of my OH, see her site at http://www.rezeau.org/wp-jacqueline/en/welcome/ ).
Blue tit in waiting with sparrow appearing at bottom of pic.
Sparrow trying (in vain) to reach at the protected grease ball
Blue tit enjoying a well-deserved breakfast!
Have you never had a bird with beak or feet stuck in the netting? I have and would never use them now. I’ve rescues so many, here I don’t even buy them with nets on them.
@Lyn,
No, this has never happened in my garden. Maybe it depends on the kind of netting?
Never use netting ...we just use simple feeders ......we attract an interesting array of birds ...even some flying squirrels ....the robins here can we a bit tetchy with the tits
....sorry for the poor quality .....