Saddened today....

....to find a pile of bird feathers close to our feeding station.

 

Nature can be so cruel at times!

I was talking to my brother on the phone last week when he shrieked. A Sparrow Hawk took a Dove while he was looking out of the window. He dashed outside and the Hawk released it, the Dove disappeared under a shrub but I don't know whether it survived, he was going to check on it after our call.

 

I must admit I didnt think of the flying predator option. I assumed it would be the feline type.

 

I think it will have been a hawk. They have to eat too and it must look like a buffet to them seeing as there will be a lot of small birds around your feeding station. It makes it easier for the hawks to pick the smaller birds off as they are congregated all in one area. Nature can be cruel but to be honest it's still good to see a predator visiting. Animals that are at the top of a food chain are pretty amazing.

 

Definetley a Sparrowhawk has been at work here as they move like a bullet and like to take their prey with an element of surprise they are that fast.

 

I felt really sad last week, there were lots of feathers on the ground under the pear tree, I have some feeders hanging in the tree to give the birds protection...clearly not working! We not only have the sparrowhawlk but a very agile cat who lives three doors down who catches all sorts of birds, squirrels & rodents! I just wish he'd leave my birds alone.

 

Hi Becky our next door neighbour doesn't like cats so she got one of those cat scareres that gives out a sonic tone that cats don't like.She said the battery ones are no good but if you get one with a mains adaptor that you plug on evidently they are supposed to work better.She says that the cats will sit on her fence but won't come into the garden but if they do they soon run off as the noise does their head in so that might be a thought about your problem.

Never underestimate the power of a bird of prey.I was leaving our allotment quiet a few years ago and was just shutting the heavy metal gate behind me when I got to about six inches of the gate being shut when I felt a breeze go past my ear and when I looked up a female Sparrowhawk was flying across one of the plots so she must have flown through that gap sideways on because the right way up and she would have probably broken her wings or took my ear off

 

Our town bylaws prohibit cats being on the loose. They must be on a leash or kept indoors.

My sister was sitting outside one day last summer and she was upset to see a hawk swoop down and take a red squirrel. She said she could hear it squealing. Me, I can't stand red squirrels, so I wasn't upset in the least.

I've since put up electric fence so that if stray decides to visit, he gets a little jolt...

 

@Lori can we do a swap please,we will have your Red Squirrels and you can have our greys seeings as your neighbouring country I think it was introduced them to our country many years ago and the greys are passing on Squirrel Pox to the few reds we still have here and killing them off whereas we sooooo love the little reds which are our native species

Most cats in this country are free to roam as it is considered difficult to keep them indoors although a few people do.Cats are a free spirit and need to roam and explore.We tried keeping our two indoors when we first rescued them as tiny kittens and they almost ripped the house to shreds

 

I wish we could swap.

one of the benefits of a mutual border is that now we have opossums. Their little pink feet are so cute. Feel like knitting them mittens for the winter. they do gave bad breath though which is good becausd they eat all the dead things ...

 

The "joy" of having so many birds of prey in the skies again. Only today i must have seen 5 buzzards flying about and a month ago there were12 flying in a circle catching a thermal above nearby houses.

 

Not convinced mine is a bird of prey, we are far too suburban, though I will keep an open mind and a watchful eye.

Couple of "interesting" points from Lori...electric fence and cats not free to roam. Cant imagine either of them in the UK. We dont want that kind of thing here, do we?

 

You probably don't have raccoons, and electric is not the stuff of the hollywood dramas. It is usually just the polywire , like mine, that is used in farmer's fields to keep animals from wandering away, and only giving them a buzz without hurting them. Much less nasty than agent orange ....