Wildlife in the garden - at any time of year

4

40057

Western Thunderer
Felt like summer whilst gardening earlier today — but it’s definitely autumn. We still have some swallows around about but no youngsters in nests now. The first geese arrived about 10 days ago and I could hear them calling overhead this morning. And the rowan berries are ripe:

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Ressaldar

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Had at least three very large flocks of geese over early this morning - heading SW towards Burton Ness on the Dee estuary.

regards

Mike
 
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Andrew Young

Andrew Young

Western Thunderer
Heard geese overhead in the garden this afternoon, whilst looking to see whether our last sun flower will flower or not this year. One other has only opened in the last few days, the latest I’ve known them.
 
SimonT

SimonT

Western Thunderer
Three Fieldfares arrived here on the edge of Sennybridge training area at the beginning of the week. The Rowan berries went a good month ago when the flock (12-20 depending on the year) of Mistle thrushes made teir annual visit. A short morning's work.
 
timbowales

timbowales

Western Thunderer
Don't know what was down there to attract them but 14 jackdaws just arrived across the road from my back gate. There was a solitary magpie but it had gone by the time I got my phone!
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D

Dai88D

Western Thunderer
Nobody seen any birds lately? New regulars in my garden include treecreeper, chiffchaff, goldcrest. Merlin picks up the goldcrest more often than I see them, but I do see them! Female sparrowhawk clobbered a woodpigeon the other morning.
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Generally, there seems to be less wildlife in our village this year compared to 12 months back. The RSPB garden bird watch in January was a wash-out, l saw nothing this year bar three Robins and five Pigeons.

On the other hand, we have seen a Hedgehog twice.
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Bloody ducks!

A major tidy up got scuppered halfway through by the discovery of a Mallard sitting on 16 eggs - smack bang in the middle of the stuff that needs sorting.
Had to put some stuff back to shelter her until they hatch - incubation takes up to 29 days so maybe another week off yet.
There's another sitting on 12 eggs but she's tucked well out of harm's way. (edit: just checked - the dozen have now left the nest).
A labour of love for sure - she only leaves the nest for maybe 40 minutes a day to get food / water, covers eggs with grass and feathers while she's gone.
 
sjp23480

sjp23480

Western Thunderer
Interested in any advice on pigeon deterrence.

I like birds, regular visitors to my garden include robin, various t*ts (blue, great and long tailed), wren, chaffinch, nuthatch, wood pigeon, woodpeckers (spotted and green) and this morning a whole squadron of starlings picking grubs out of the lawn.

But my neighbour feeds the feral pigeons and they have taken to roosting under my solar panels causing untold damage.

The quote to get netting installed was eye watering, working at height and all that, so trying to figure out how to scare them off.

I have tried ultrasonic noise, predator calls (all from YouTube), and have got a long handled, multicoloured feather duster wedged out of the dormer window which was doing the trick (don't ask). But its effectiveness is rapidly waning unless I wave it about every half an hour or so.

Short of getting a proper bird scarer - which would upset the whole neighbourhood - I am wondering what else I can do.

Grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks
Steve
 
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simond

simond

Western Thunderer
You could try scaring the neighbour…

When we & two neighbours had solar panels installed, the pigeons moved in, and the seagulls moved out. That surprised me. The pigeons then got under the solar panels, I don’t think they did much harm, but they would drive you mad of a summer morning with their incessant honking & cooing. The neighbour had an air rifle, that didn’t achieve much and he was scared of where the pellets might go, so that was returned from whence he borrowed it. He then got a laser bird scarer. It was very bright, very green, very impressive, but it didn’t attract any attention whatsoever from the pigeons. Then he got some kind of sonic device. That wasn’t popular with anyone. Then we all clubbed together and he got some bloke to come round and fit metal mesh around the edges of the panels.

that finally got rid of the bloody things. And it was worth it to be able to sleep past 0330 on summer mornings.

I suggest you get a quotation for the mesh, and go and see the neighbour who’s feeding them, and have a quiet chat, it might persuade them to stop. Though once they’ve found a nesting spot, even if the feeding stops, they’ll probably come back, for years.
 
sjp23480

sjp23480

Western Thunderer
I suggest you get a quotation for the mesh, and go and see the neighbour who’s feeding them, and have a quiet chat, it might persuade them to stop.

Thanks Simon,

The vermin are remarkably persistant - I am not surprised the seagulls moved out!

Interestingly, said neighbour had panels installed the same time as us. I said they should stop feeding the pigeons as they were roosting under their panels as well as covering them in "you know what". They duly obliged.

Well, a few weeks later they had mesh put on their panels and they started feeding the birds again. I feed the birds too, but I use feeders that pigeons cannot use - they seem to have a feeding staion and table - so the pigeons have a grand old time!

Their panels are on their garage, so the installers could use ladders.

Mine are on a steeply pitched roof and will require a scaffold tower - SWMBO won't be happy!
 
oldravendale

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
No - definitely bloody ducks. We have the same problem every year - they come down because of our wildlife pond, wreck it, eat as many of the tadpoles and invertebrates they can get at, have a family and then bu**er off. I now have to net the pond every March.

The greatest fun now is seeing the ducks trying to get to the water.

Have you ever seen ducks trampolining???

As for birds we have red kites, buzzards, sparrow hawks, green woodpeckers, greater spotted woodpeckers, blackbirds, occasional thrushes, jackdaws, jays, magpies, crows, dunnocks, hedge sparrows, blue tits, great tits, black caps, chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches, robins and the inevitable wood pigeons. I may have missed a few... All in all we've had a pretty good year for birds.

Brian
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
sjp23480 said:
I suggest you get a quotation for the mesh, and go and see the neighbour who’s feeding them, and have a quiet chat, it might persuade them to stop.

Thanks Simon,

The vermin are remarkably persistant - I am not surprised the seagulls moved out!

Interestingly, said neighbour had panels installed the same time as us. I said they should stop feeding the pigeons as they were roosting under their panels as well as covering them in "you know what". They duly obliged.

Well, a few weeks later they had mesh put on their panels and they started feeding the birds again. I feed the birds too, but I use feeders that pigeons cannot use - they seem to have a feeding staion and table - so the pigeons have a grand old time!

Their panels are on their garage, so the installers could use ladders.

Mine are on a steeply pitched roof and will require a scaffold tower - SWMBO won't be happy!
Click to expand...
I sympathise, I fear you have few options.
 
SimonT

SimonT

Western Thunderer
I'm confused. Indian Summer in April?

We used to be Pigeon free but Goshawk rich. Unfortunately Pigeon have returned to the area as Defence Esatates harvested a plantation 400m away. Guess where the Goshawk nest was? They should have done a full survey on the impact of the felling but obviously didn't. Pillocks.
 
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Max M

Max M

Western Thunderer
We have pigeons that nest in nearby conifers.
What we try to do is make sure that they have limited access to the feeders.
Our hanging feeder only allows small birds to access the seed but they do clear up any drops.
The ground feeder has a cage around it and a small tray in the middle that the pigeons can't reach...drives them demented. :headbang:

The other piece of kit I have which is, admittedly, more for my pleasure rather than a deterrent is a Nerf gun.
Doesn't stop them but I do get some pleasure when I get a hit. :)
 
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