Talkback: Garden lowlife

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  I hang a bird feeder and a small fat ball in my 'standard shaped' eucalyptus tree (the pruned stumps make idea bird perches.) This is situated just outside my bungalow bedroom window (in the north east of England.) It attracts mainly blue tits, great tits and coal tits. They seem to love the black and beige sort of sunflower seeds.
  I tried the nigeria black seed, to see if the gold finches would come - but no luck at all - in fact, these seeds started to sprout,as none of the birdlife took any interest!

  
  Flurries of house sparrows also visit regularly, squabbling, pecking and jumping on each other each other for posession of the fat ball. Earlier in the year there were lots of blackbirds and mistle thrushs - but I haven't seen them for about a month or two now.

  
  Occasionally, I see a cat prowling down the nearby path, but with plenty of ivy and shrub cover nearby its been out of luck, thank goodness.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  We still have lots of wildlife about. In fact we have lost a pair of slippers and a walking boot to the foxes, a squirrel that can't keep his hand off our nuts! and a heron that visits from time to time and the usual birds

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  I suppose also this is the time of year when we get a slight wind and end up with 3 ton of leaves, also we have several chestnut trees at the end of the garden (not in the garden but in the woods) its like fighting a losing battle, does anybody know a way of deterring badgers from my garden they have decimated my lawn??

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  We are still seeing woodpeckers, jays, robins and several other garden birds, but that could be because we are very close to a woods and nature reserve. Also the lawn has scrapings on it most mornings. Not sure if it's squirrels or if the badger is finding a way in again. We have had an unusual visitor this year, which i have found out is an elephant hawk moth caterpillar. I first thought it was a slug. They were last seen demolishing a fuchsia bush, which they apparently love.I've read they will pupate from now until May, when it turns into a very pretty moth.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  I imagine that the recent cyclonic weather has an effect on local wildlife. Butterflies and dragonflies will avoid flight while we have gusty wind and showers. Who can blame them?

  
  The sparrowhawks don't seem put off though. Sparrows are very much on the menu. I recently discovered a very busy hornets nest in a nearby tree. I was very pleased to see that these magnificent animals seemed to be thriving despite generations of persecution. I live in North Kent.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  We still get flocks of goldfinches, greenfinches, the bluetits whizz in and out fast, the collared doves all hang around waiting for the rest to throw the seed around, but they all love the sunflower Kernels the sparrows and the greenfinches push each other of the feeder, but the blackbirds are few and far between at the moment we had quite a few at the beginning of the year but their just seems to be the one at the moment, and i have only seen one of the robins just lately we did have a grey squirrel a few weeks ago hanging upside down on a bird feeder that said on the label squirrel proof, ha ha I did take a photo but it is still in the camera waiting to finish the reel and be developed, but I did take it through the window so I will not hold my breath. we live in the depths of South Yorkshire.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  Last winter I had a problem with rats in my compost bin. They were tunnelling underneath to get in, so a few weeks ago I emptied the bin & put down wire mesh in the hope that it will keep them out. Has anyone any other ideas?

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  At this time of year it's entertaining to watch rooks flying into a nearby plum tree, then flying away, each with a plum in its beak. One decided to 'caw’, and dropped his plum. Anyone passing underneath would have been surprised!(His mum didn't teach him not to caw with his beak full!

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  I had a big problem with rats, actually had three running on the outside of my conservatory windowsill! I called the pest control officer who got rid of them but they were nesting in my compost heap. He told me to let the hose run into it occasionally as rats will only go into the heap for the dry warmth.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  October 2008

  We have a couple of squirrels who enjoy the peanuts from our squirrel box - made by my husband to keep them off the birdfeeders. They often bury nuts in the pots on the patio and I've had numerous sproutings! However we've been watching one this weekend who appears to be short-sighted - it's digging up pebbles from my herb bed, cleaning them off and then burying them in the lawn. I know their teeth are strong but this is ridiculous! One of them has also developed a wet weather strategy - when it's raining it gets inside the box (front and top are perspex) and props the lid on its head to keep dry while munching away.

  
  A huge roost of sparrows in the pyrancantha hedge have been very noisy this week - the sparrowhawk knows exactly where they are, but usually takes something larger. Very few wood pigeons about at the moment - I'm not sorry as they were becoming a real pest. Collared doves, blue tits and great tits are still regular visitors, and of course the quarrelsome starlings who love the windfall apples, but not many other types recently.

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