Unwelcome garden visitors
SusieQ5
Posts: 8
We used to have a really good variety of small birds regularly visiting our garden, but over the past few years we have been invaded by gangs of magpies and wood pigeons, plus the occasional jackdaw. They have now scared off all the small birds. The magpies have mastered the art of hanging and feeding from the bird feeders and stealing the food and in the process dropping enough on the ground to keep the pigeons so fat I wonder how they manage to fly! Anyone out there got any ideas on how we can deter these bullies so that our garden can be a safe haven for the small birds?
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That's why I have this Sue ...
Big birds can't get in...
little birds can
Oh - and buy good feed mixes, the no mess kind - not the ones padded out with barley. Pigeons love that ...
The Woodies around here have acquired a taste for un-hulled sunflower seeds, the fat beggars.
They're big bandits aren't they Jimmy! They try very hard to get into the other area I have cordoned off mainly for my blackbirds - but they're too lardy for that as well
I'll have to use the white hulled ones next time I go shopping. Half the seeds gets dropped out the feeders by the finches. Still, it keeps the gardens mice population fed
Woman along the road from me keeps chucking out bread philippa
All the usual suspects are always hanging around her door and garden....
OH has just taken delivery of yet another bird feeder.
No. 12. Not counting what he just puts on the ground. It looks like this
http://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/our-shop/bird-tables/ground-guard-adjustable/154
He says it's to keep the big birds off the food for the little birds.
but he's still putting food out for the big birds anyway.
It went out this afternoon and two great tits have already got the hang of it. Not sure how long it will take a pigeon or a pheasant to work out that it's not attached to the earth.
Can't recommend this brand particularly. It came with one totally bent bolt, which he happened to have a replacement for in his stash of 50 year old bolts, and one peg couldn't be pushed into its hole because its hole was filled with solder.
Breads about the only thing I don't put out as the gulls up here can spot it from miles away. It's windy enough that It could be a Dundonian breakfast roll. Is it well-fired looking?
An air gun pellet above their heads will see off Magpies, they are very clever and quick to learn. I remember getting plagued with crows once, it worked for those too.I hate to see them ripping the fleglings apart after all the efforts from the parent birds.
I know they have to eat, but there's plenty of forests, fields and hedgerows they can go.
Well, I'm not from around here, but if you can understand what the roll is saying, then it's not a Dundonian one