Leigh Hi , how true your words are I try very hard to leave my garden quite dense
and being in town I have quite a small garden but at the back we have this hugh high wall covered in green trailing russian vine and mimosa all the little sparrows and yes one blue tit this year do pretty well, until this year and the dam crows and magpies they seem really big as well .but my plants are quite big tropical ones in containers bur very
dense and a water bath on a pedestal help give cover.but whom would think the sparrow could die out .

Pat xx

My problem is the "Common English Sparrow" has mobbed out all of my song and field birds. In the winter, I can keep the long, blue, and marsh tits at my feeders, but I have to keep an eye out. I've counted 30+ English sparrows fighting for food and pushing out the smaller birds I also have the Siberian Magpies around here, but they tend to compete with the cats for the various rubbish bags that people leave out :rolleyes:

i agree leigh, i used to have a pet crow and he was great! don't think i could shoot one or a magpie.
bill

i love gardening , and one of the things i enjoy is seeing the interaction between everything. We planted a crab apple, leave our lawn fairly long (the extension lead doesn't go all the way to the top anyway!!!) and shoved in lots of lavender for bees, buddleia for butterflies, and lots of stuff like comfrey.Plus climbing roses and honeysuckle on a rustic frame (Mmm the scent in the evening.....)

I have done almost nothing to the garden recenlty except trim the dreaded leylandii a bit. We've seen a green woodpecker on the lawn, loads of interacting insects (inlc a stag beetle) and have "brought up" a family of dunnocks (my fav. as they grab all the spiders! ) and third year running Hetty the blackbird has produced 2 broods to adulthood. I think they have all survivied anyway.

One of the most important things for birds is ground cover, 'cos when the fledglings leave thier nest they bop about on the ground and this is where they are so vulnerable. THE adult bird does know where they are but can't stop a cat. I think we have had so much luck because of my comfrey and other ground cover, plus lots of small bushy plants, a few brambles(!) etc.

We do want a pond because then we would have more frogs and less slugs, but don't think we have room.

This year we picked our own fresh greengages, mmmmm yum!!!

Lindsay

Hi Bill, when I see magpies sitting on the roofs around here, *peering* into the eaves and then sticking their scrawning heads in and pulling the baby sparrow eggs out of their nests or raiding the songbird nests, I would have no hesitation to shoot them.

How did you end up with a pet crow?

hi leigh
does seem kind of unfair and horrible but that's nature,funny though i don't get the same feeling of disgust when a hawk drops on a vole or similar it seems to be 'right' isn't it strange ,is it maybe that the hawk is a rarer bird and you take dlight in seeing them no matter what?

You are right Bill I love to see birds of prey hunting.

didn't see the bottom bit leigh!
it fell out of the nest and i took it home and bottle fed it never did fly but it would sit on my shoulder all day if you let it and follow me round,saw off all the cats too.
bill

Sounds like a real character Bill

Good Morning all Pls tell me what a Siberian magpie looks like ?
and have taken down all the plants that I have not got and I am really jealous of
woodpecker seighting .The guy whom came from the sanctury looked at my garden and said
it is a real little haven for the birds, But the ducklings would not have had any chance
of surviving this year alone we have saved 30 ducklings the cat's try and attack the
duck and she flys off and never comes back. The sanctury had 1000 ducklings
and only lost six.But I could never kill birds only show them the broom .ha ha ha

rotton old london you never see the real little sweetie birds

And with grandchildren I would never own an air riffle let alone use one
Pat xx

Hi Patricia,
"Siberian Magpie" is my grammy's name for the black and white large noisy bird that everyone is complaining about I have no idea where she got it, she always called it that. I just use it from habit. :rolleyes: sorry
:cool:

So pleased you explained, I asked my collagues in work, all have been making phone
calls one came up with it's a cross breed bird another thought it much larger
another one said yes heard of that it;s a different colour ??? Thats what you get for being curious .

and I Always salute them in case I get unluck, girl in work parents own a samll farm
told me always to do this.

THANKS Pat XX

I always count when I see magpies as in
1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a girl
4 for a boy
5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for a secret never to be told
8 and I have to start again cos I`ve forgotten the rest LOL
Christine2

wow somone else has noticed this....around my house its been crawling with magpies and crows! We also seem to be getting this HUGE seagull in our garden aswell which my cat is not happy about because once it attacked her and she fell off her fence (if you had seen how fat she is you would sympathise with her thats gotta hurt!)
Jacqui

Good Morning Jacqui. Strange that we have seagulls as well and the thames is
a good 2 miles away we have a canel round the cornor but don't normally see seagulls on it.
We can hear them now late into the night .Not complaining I like hearing them reminds
me off the seaside.A girl in work said her father noticed 5 crows surround a pigeon
and kill it .

Pat xx

Hi Pat
I remember reading somewhere that the collective noun for crows is a *murder*, don't know if that is right but certainly sounds right!
Seagulls are a blasted nuisance too. We used to live on the coast and they rip open rubbish bags and attack small children & dogs to pinch food, shame they are protected as more than once I'd have loved to pot one!
Nicky

8's a wish
9's a kiss

Thats as far as I go

I love magpies ..my favourite wild bird ..so saucy and flamboyant ...and I think they get a bad press

:D

Melody

>>rotton old london you never see the real little sweetie birds

Pat, do you not have any pied wagtails? I think they are pretty.

Shame you don't live in South East London.
You could put up with the squawking of wild green parrots :rolleyes:

Although we are only semi rural we are very lucky with our bird populationm, (apart from the rotten Magpies!) We have pied wagtails, robins, blue tits and yellow hammers, who all visit the garden regularly. Also the normal assortment of thrushes and sparrows, and we have had a nest of swifts this year too.

Hi Phil
We are v.rural here and we have lots of birds that nest in our eaves.

Our little boy, Jack, got an old pair of binoculars given to him last year and he bought a bird book so he can sit in our living room and watch out of the big patio doors.
No seagulls now, thank goodness!
Nicky

Aww bless him, an Ornithologist in the making!! We have seagulls too, being right near the sea.

Leigh you are making me really jealous no wagtails and green parrots WHOW
Yesterday made my grandson's day in the park 2 squirrels and we had a bag of nuts
and young Kieran loved feeding them ,and the little squirrels looked more red then grey
this is the same park we found the dead really beautiful owl .

Pat xx