This is why, if we can manage to have lawns/grass without treating them with chemicals to kill chafer grubs and leather jackets then we certainly should.
Or nematodes.
My starlings have only just returned this year. I dont see them during the summer but they come en masse in the winter.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
A dozen or so visited the bird feeders earlier in the week.
We have always seen the flocks flying around in winter, but have never had garden starlings. Last year some found the feeders for the first time and I was delighted to see them back again this year. There was a flock of greenfinches yesterday too - better order some more bird seed!
I was annoyed that the starlings bullied the smaller birds so as they only seem to be interested in the fat balls I hung them in a different area and they now fight among themselves leaving the smaller birds in peace.
We currently have alternating flocks of fieldfares and starlings. So far, when they do swoop, it's to peck over the weeds in the gravel patch behind us. It's quite large and I'm very pleased to see them as it's a nightmare of stone chips so any weed seeds and unfriendly bugs they get is a boon. They don't visit the feeders but the starlings do wtrip the fig tree in summer, long before any fruit are ripe enough for us.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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