Forum home› Talkback
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Talkback: Garden birds and their predators

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
Funny - a friend of mine (in Kent) just posted on Facebook that he had buzzards hunting the woods behind his house this morning. They get about.
«13456

Posts

  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    My garden is usually visited by the smaller birds and nextdoors cats, that sit under the Butterfly bush
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    your friend is a very very lucky man to have buzzards hunting in the woods behind his house.

    I would love to have a wood behind my house, but instead i live on a housing estate.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    hi i back onto woods and when i got up this morning there was well it looked like a small eagle eating a piegeon in my garden,i have never seen this bird before so i have no idea what it was....any ideas people???? it was browny colour,but there was a lot of birds making a sreaming noise hence why i got up to look and say my new feather lawn!!! 'nice'...not..
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Reply to Sarahs Pond Life
    Your hawk is probably one of the regular two: kestrel and sparrowhawk. Have a look at the RSPB pages. They have links to similar species and give identification pointers.

    Kestrel:
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/k/kestrel/index.aspx

    Sparrowhawk:
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/sparrowhawk/index.aspx

    Of course, depending where you live, it could also be peregrine falcon, red kite or buzzard
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Gardeners World should get rid of Richard Jones and his cats after admitting they kill Birds..Birds do a lot of good in a garden and are part of the garden and brilliant to see...so why should he be paid to being party to getting them killed by his cats...yuk...how is he wildlife friendly?
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    From my garden on the border of Berkshire/Wiltshire I can see the buzzards hunting over the hills, but sometimes they venture over mine and my neighbours gardens where they are mobbed by the rooks that live close by in the trees, it is quite a sight to see. But I'm afraid Richard that I cannot be as flippant as you about cats killing birds. Any cats venturing into my garden are met with a blast from my water pistol. I read an article about keeping other people's cats out of your garden where it was suggested that we "non cat owners" put spikes on our fence around our garden. I would like to suggest that "responsible" cat owners put spikes on their fences to keep their cats in, that way I could garden without finding my hands covered in cat poo!!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Do not remind me of the dreaded cat poo!!..Richard there is a magazine called 'Cat World' would you not be more at home writing for them..you could even compare your cats prowess in bird termination with other cat lovers..i love to feed birds and enjoy them..they are part of my garden..when a cat is around it all stops until it goes away and annoys others.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I agree both with Harry Hill re Richard Jones and Dahlia Lover re cats killing birds. I love the birds and feed them all year round. We have put strips of spikes on tops of all fences but if there is an area without those spikes cats will find a way in. We had to resort to putting fine chicken wire through tops of shrubs and climbers etc. I have a laser gun, only heard by a cat or rat, and it really does work. People who own cats aren't bird lovers and don't seem to care about the cruelty and pain inflicted on baby birds and mice and indeed the suffering of the parent birds. Believe me, cats can be taught not to hunt and kill birds but people can't be bothered to teach them and just say "it's their nature". Enough said.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    where can we buy a laser gun as we are tormented with cats which is upsetting for us when we have put in a huge effort to attract the birds to our 'NEW' garden.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    hi richard,thanks for your info;have looked on thoses sites....im not sure it kinda looks like the kestral picture but still not sure as the 1 in my garden was more brown in colour than the picture i saw..[but i guess not ALL pictures are purrrrfect].
    oh and by the way to all thoses people who are unhappy with cats killing birds,unfortunatly many animals kill other animals to eat...its called mother-nature.i dont enjoy seeing cats kill and i dont encourage it either but it happens thats life.
Sign In or Register to comment.