There are lots of cat lovers out there, so stand by! These animals are a bane; they destroy wild life on a scale that is barely credible - between 85 and 135 million birds per year in the UK alone and the difference between the high and low figures is an indication of just how little is realised. When we ask: "where are all the birds?", look no further. In Australia they have a curfew. Over here I'd make neutering compulsory. Passions run very high; my own garden is the local cat dirt box - every neighbour keeps at least one cat. My next-door-neighbour keeps three and keeps bird feeders too which she fills religiously. Talk about baiting the trap! When these disgusting creatures can't squat in the wet ground they do it on my heather beds, and I can smell it a mile off, I know it's there so I just keep looking. Ugh.
Yes indeed they are very different. If it hovers and drops it's a kestrel, if it flies in stage right (or left) so fast you think wazzat, its a sparrow hawk
I did look it up, but the numpty that i am, ive forgotton which one i decided it was! This was a male, grey on his back , and a sort of apricot on his chest, i think it was a kestrel, but not sure enough to say for definate!
Exegesis, sorry you are having such a hard time with cats, they seem to pick on some people/gardens more than others, i personally love them, but my OH is more like you, i wonder if the cat nip could work to lure them away from some parts of your plot? I put food out every night for whatever gets to it first, i think that may disuade them from messing in the garden? If only the foxes and hedgehogs thought the same way!
Problem solved, temporarily at least. I've put holly and blackthorn branches on the woodpile, so the cats are staying off there. But I've also had to put a length of wire fencing aroung the legs of a planter that stands on the step next to the woodpile, because one particularly persistant black cat had taken to hiding under it looking just like a big black shadow. The birds and the mice can still get at the dish of food under there, but the cat cannot.
House bricks? Air-guns? Anti-freeze? Gull them with kindness and then slaughter them ritualistically? None of these, I must live with it, but I am not best-pleased by their depredations.
I set-up the contech scarecrows again yesterday after bringing them in to protect them from frosts. Neighbour's cat set one off from miles away - it hadn't forgotten what it was though, ran home with its tail between his legs.
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Holly branches over the pile, and around the ground beside it. Ask a neighbor if you can give theirs a spring trim if you don't have your own.
There are lots of cat lovers out there, so stand by! These animals are a bane; they destroy wild life on a scale that is barely credible - between 85 and 135 million birds per year in the UK alone and the difference between the high and low figures is an indication of just how little is realised. When we ask: "where are all the birds?", look no further. In Australia they have a curfew. Over here I'd make neutering compulsory. Passions run very high; my own garden is the local cat dirt box - every neighbour keeps at least one cat. My next-door-neighbour keeps three and keeps bird feeders too which she fills religiously. Talk about baiting the trap! When these disgusting creatures can't squat in the wet ground they do it on my heather beds, and I can smell it a mile off, I know it's there so I just keep looking. Ugh.
bekkie, you must get yourself a bird ID book - Kestrels and Sparrowhawks are very different
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Yes indeed they are very different. If it hovers and drops it's a kestrel, if it flies in stage right (or left) so fast you think wazzat, its a sparrow hawk
Exegesis, sorry you are having such a hard time with cats, they seem to pick on some people/gardens more than others, i personally love them, but my OH is more like you, i wonder if the cat nip could work to lure them away from some parts of your plot? I put food out every night for whatever gets to it first, i think that may disuade them from messing in the garden? If only the foxes and hedgehogs thought the same way!
Problem solved, temporarily at least. I've put holly and blackthorn branches on the woodpile, so the cats are staying off there. But I've also had to put a length of wire fencing aroung the legs of a planter that stands on the step next to the woodpile, because one particularly persistant black cat had taken to hiding under it looking just like a big black shadow. The birds and the mice can still get at the dish of food under there, but the cat cannot.
Thanks for all your advice.
Cats hate lavender.
Unfortunately, so do I.
House bricks? Air-guns? Anti-freeze? Gull them with kindness and then slaughter them ritualistically? None of these, I must live with it, but I am not best-pleased by their depredations.
I set-up the contech scarecrows again yesterday after bringing them in to protect them from frosts. Neighbour's cat set one off from miles away - it hadn't forgotten what it was though, ran home with its tail between his legs.