General Chat

Since losing my cats, I've set up a bird feeder in my garden, and have become quite attached to the house sparrows. Over a dozen visit the feeder every day.
I have a boring shrub by my front window, that I tried (but failed) to kill last year, but now realise the sparrows 'rest' there during the day.

They seem okay with me, I did some gardening, and they stayed silent in the shrub - they didn't fly away.
I came in for a cup of tea. and heard a ruckus in the shrub. I looked out - and saw a kestrel lunging at the shrub!!!
I was up like a shot, and shaking the door handle - the kestrel flew off.

Same tactic I use for the cat that was in my compost heap - I saw it take one of my sparrows away - it keeps coming back :-(

I just googled and found this on the rspb website

The most recent figures of how many creatures are killed by cats are from the Mammal Society. They estimate that cats in the UK catch in the order of 92 million prey items over spring and summer, of which around 27 million are birds.

This is the number of prey items which were known to have been caught. We don't know how many more the cats caught, but didn't bring home, or how many escaped but subsequently died. We also don’t know the extent of less direct effects, such as the presence of cats affecting parent-birds feeding their chicks.

That is a huge number and that is only for cats and not other predators as well.

I don’t feed the birds, but I do have a large water dish on the ground outside the patio doors and it is really well used. We have a huge number of pigeons, so I have put a large stone in the centre of the water. It stops the large pigeons sitting in the dish and splashing all the water out. The small birds can still bathe, but the pesky pigeons can still get a drink

Have to admit - when I had cats, there were very few birds around my previous garden!
Since moving, and being cat-less, i am astounded at the number of birds.
There are trees in the garden behind, that back onto my garden.
They were full of breeding starlings - the noise was incredible. I counted 50 in one tree - they were the ones I could actually see,

The birds have increased since I've dug borders and planted flowers - nothing special, just some teasles, and a £1 box of 'red flower mix'. I dug 2 other borders and planted a 'blue flower mix', and a 'yellow flower mix', but the soil was so bad nothing grew.

I put the bird feeder up in late spring, and, once the birds realised it was there, I foolishly put some suet balls up.
Talk about a scene from 'The Birds' :-S
Innumerable sparrows, 2 collared doves, 3 pigeons, about 20 Starlings - and 7 jackdaws!!

I'm not saying 'my' pigeons are a bit dense, but one laid an egg in the flower border.
Never sat on it. The egg is still there.

I don't think the doves are that bright either - I have 2 resident ones who sit on the fence loudly complaining if I'm a bit slow in putting the food out on the bird table. However if I walk out ( or even appear at the door or window ) they fly off with loud cries of distress. Obviously can't work out who feeds them each morning! The sparrows just keep on feeding whatever - maybe a bit brighter?

In my garden, when the seagulls are fighting the crows, the blackbirds and starling are all squawking loudly, the pigeons just carry on as if they are the only birds around. Very docile and laid back.

They don't seem to be scared of any other birds no matter how big.

The starlings all sit on the roof of the houses and when 1 flies off, they all do. Sometimes they sit on my washing line fighting for the top of the pole lol.

In the afternoon around 2pm, the pigeons face the wind and lay down to have a siesta :-D :-D

Going off the subject a bit, I would like advise on how to attract other birds to our garden, at the moment we only have Pigeons and rarely a magpie or two, it would be good to have a variety.
Thanks.

My front garden is small, and the back garden even smaller!
The bungalows have low front walls. It's pretty open plan, and the soil so bad, hardly anyone has anything but grass and pots in their gardens - quite a few are paved over. However, Grace, 6 doors up, has an amazing garden!i
We're also very high up, on an East West axis, so there's lttle shelter from the sun.

I had a goldcrest last year, eating the dandelion seed heads, so I planted teasles, but I have't seen it this year. Fortunately, my immediate neighbours like teasels - they're likely to have them in their gardens in a year or so :-D

The many starlings make a lot of noise - it's very quiet now.
As they grew, I noticed they'd suddenly go quiet, then do a mini murmuration over the house.
Next year, i'm going to see if I can teach them a sound.
Where I used to live, when I first moved there, one of the neighbourhood starlings could make the sound of a trim phone.

My previous close encounter with a bird was when we lived in a caravan in Kirkpatrick Fleming. There was a metal coal bunker outside the door.

One day, I opened the door,to find a young blackbird sat on the coal bunker.
It didn't fly off, so I spoke to it, and gave it some water and food.
It was there the next day, and the next. It became a bit of a ritual for me to feed it twice a day - it even sat on my hand.
If it wasn't there, I'd call it,(yes, I'd given it a name!) and it came.
It grew up, and came less often, until it disappeared.
Just before we moved, a few months later, she reappeared - with her brood in tow
<3

maggiewinchester That is lovely and thank you for your help.

There's a robin which sits in a bush outside my bedroom window, waiting for me to get up in the morning.

When I open the bedroom curtains, it flies along to another bush, outside the kitchen window, where it watches me make my porridge.

When it sees me heading for the back door, to put the scrapings of the porridge pan out onto the grass, it flies along there instantly for its breakfast.

I'm impressed that it has learned the sequence of events which lead up to its breakfast, and can follow my movements even through glass.

Smallish shrub ( can be cut) that grows in poor soil, Leycesteria aka Himalayan honeysuckle, Pheasant berry. It's so easy, plant in anything and it will grow, I've just pulled 3 out growing in the dust by the front wall and repotted to give away next year. Blackbirds in particular love the berries which are out now, but also blue tits like to collect small insects off the stems in spring. Bees love the creamy flowers, https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/leycesteria-formosa/

I miss putting out food for the birds, but can't attract them because of the cats. Lots of cover though helps the birds hide. The small birds like the conifer for cover and insects, ditto the Forsythia.

Zzzz...yes to all of the above. Something a little more obscure but just as easy, grow a hanging basket or two, or something similar, with a soft liner, the sort which looks like stuffing. We don't often have blue tits on our feeders, but in the Spring we see them nicking the liner for their nests.

Rose - that shrub is just what I need to replace the boring shrub the birds currently hide in.
This Autumn/Winter job? To make another attempt to kill off /dig up the shrub that's there at the moment.
I tried last Winter, and it came back better than ever :-|

Maggie, They are quite expensive at garden centres etc, but if you can find someone with a Leycesteria, ask them for a cutting or two, they usually put out roots in a jar of water or ask for some of the berries now and put those in a pot to get going. It's a pity I don't live closer I could drop one round but I could send some seeds if you can't get them :-D

Thanks Rose.
I'll ask around the family.
I've got 3 hydrangeas in huge pots that I managed to grow from a hydrangea my sister has, that she grew, from a cutting from my grans hydrangea, any many years ago! :-D
Unfortunately, they probably won't do to well in full sun in my front garden.

As I've aged, I've become very much like my gran.
I have a small plastic bag with me at all times, and am lucky to have very strong, long thumbnails. Very handy for subtly taking a small 'sample' off plants. (nod nod, wink wink).

Also, mother's day is in March. The children can get me one between them, then!
:-D

Maggie, I have lots of hydrangeas too. You reminded me of my mum's late friend, she carried a small pair of secateurs in her handbag :-D

Great idea re Mother's day!

I have a holly and a pyracantha that were started from clippings on the footpath after the council had been cutting hedges, the holly is still small but the pyracantha is growing fast. Also several Jasminium Beesianum from air roots that came over from next door. I couldn't do without the garden to keep me vaguely sane.

OH says that his Welsh grandmother who looked after him during the war used to take him on outings, and always had a pair of scissors in her bag to collect "things".

Her theory was "they won't miss a little bit'!!!

Well, Sylvia, it's true - they won't miss a little bit :-D

It's good to 'tidy up' the odd shrub, in passing - that irritating bit sticking out, shouting 'cut me' :-D :-D

My sister and I phone each other nearly every evening, and we're surprised how much like gran we're both getting :-S
Not just with gardening, but little ways of saving - or rather, not spending - money etc.