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Just been reading about new research on bird migration, where it’s believed that animals and birds have a certain protein in their eye which responds to the magnetic field.  So it’s not just birds who know where to go, lost dogs and cats can often find their way home in this way.  I tried to copy the link from Facebook but it didn’t work…


 

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We have a  flock of five at the at the moment and yes they do tend to eat virtually everything in sight, but they are a large bird and consequently eat more than a small one. I have hot glued bars on

It was a lovely, still night in the garden yesterday. Horace/Doris turned up on cue at 10pm. Brought a friend along. Doris/Horace?  Anyone who thinks hedgehogs are slow, bumbling creatures should see

We are at the top of an hill so we look out onto countyside but at the slde near us are some terrace house's. Now with central heating chimmy pots are not used any more. We have now been hear about 10

11 hours ago, DJ360 said:

We are overrun with Pigeons..which are a PITA and a health hazard. 

 

We have a  flock of five at the at the moment and yes they do tend to eat virtually everything in sight, but they are a large bird and consequently eat more than a small one. I have hot glued bars on the feeders to limit their access and give others a chance to feed but they do seem resourceful buggers.

What I don't understand why they are considered vermin, if they were rare and endangered would we still consider them so? ALL birds carry parasites, all birds are health hazards, all birds are flying s**t machines yet we pick on pigeons...

Let's be clear we help the spread of parasites among them by encouraging birds to congregate at feeding stations

 

My grandma used to say "all Gods creatures have a place in the choir"

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Round here the old country folk used to eat them (the breasts anyway). Someone gave me a brace once thinking they were doing me a favour but I couldn’t face eating them. I was given a couple of mallards once which I had to pluck and dress. I was knee deep in feathers - never seen so many! There doesn’t seem to be the game shoots around here now so I haven’t had pheasant for some years.

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Blackbirds for me. I always get one nesting in either the dilapidated shed I've got at the bottom of my garden or it will be in my conifers. This year I seem to have three blackbird nests.

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There is a mating pair of Blackbirds close by and the coir liners of my flower basket must make excellent nest material, they've pinched most of one in particular and killed the flowers... Seeing Mr Bird on the giant fir cone dropping seeds to Mrs Bird who can't get the hang of perching on  them is worth a few squashed petunias...

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Watching the tiny wrens whizzing up and down on the trachycarpus is a very entertaining sight. Sometimes they nest high up in it but they appear to have given it a miss this year in favour of hunting its insects. They seem to be finding plenty.

 

Horace/Doris the hedgehog was out early last night at 10pm. Still light enough to watch him/her feeding 3 feet away from me. I've never seen a hedgehog put away so much food at one sitting. For a human, the equivalent of a 12 course banquet. Must have been hungry.

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Got a Dunnock nest in a pyracantha near our back door. Like the pair of blackbirds in our hedge and various other birds (sparrows, blue tits, coal tits)  that frequent our garden, their nest is well insulated with surplus dog hair from when we brush our Labrador.

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Just been on the Mapperley fb page and they were talking about magpies!  There are some there who have killed other garden birds and two were apparently attacking a squirrel!  
but as someone said …. They have their  babies to feed

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We seem to have an abundance of Goldfinches. Still have our three Mallards outside our window. They've now been coming every year for about 4 years, (how long do they normally live?) They're here every day, guarding my bird water bowl.

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On the subject of garden birds this little chap appeared on the patio wall. There was a pile of feathers but his target got away..

 

pYVVPlL.jpg

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11 hours ago, Brew said:

What I don't understand why they are considered vermin, if they were rare and endangered would we still consider them so?

 

Numbers..pure and simple. Every lamp post on our development has a 'skid pan'' of droppings on the ground beneath it.  More and more people round here are getting anti pigeon spikes fitted on TV aerials etc.. because the droppings fall onto the roof, which encourages thick moss.

My neighbour had his aerial moved off the chimney and onto a long pole fixed to the side of his house.  Within a week he was moaning about the amount of pigeon droppings in his side path and had to get a chap oout to fix anti pigeon spikes on the aerial.

 

Sadly, we have created ideal conditions for pigeons to thrive in numbers which amount to a nuisance.

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8 hours ago, DJ360 said:

 

Sadly, we have created ideal conditions for pigeons to thrive in numbers which amount to a nuisance.

I feel exactly the same about homo 'sapiens'! They're wrecking everything.

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We are at the top of an hill so we look out onto countyside but at the slde near us are some terrace house's. Now with central heating chimmy pots are not used any more. We have now been hear about 10 years, first year one of the chimmy pots was taken over by a couple of Jackdaws it was just amazing to see them going  up and down the chimmy, (it dosen't take a lot to make you happy)  any way, Now!!! there are 8 Jackdaws and more on the way. Maybe if the get over crowded  the council will rehouse them?

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It was a lovely, still night in the garden yesterday. Horace/Doris turned up on cue at 10pm. Brought a friend along. Doris/Horace?  Anyone who thinks hedgehogs are slow, bumbling creatures should see these two! I think they could outrun Linford Christie or whatever his name was.  They scoot about like greased lightning.

 

Dish was empty in minutes. 

 

"Evening Horace/Doris. Is either of you two with hoglets?"

 

Dirty look. 'Mind your own business!'

 

Hedgehog gestation is between 30 and 40 days. I observed courtship dances on 24 May. We should be getting somewhere near a very happy event!

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Last night, I put a hedgehog supper for Horace in a dish with a dish of water and left them in the kitchen. At 8pm, there was a storm here, although no lightning, and I sat down and fell asleep! Woke at 9.15pm and thought I'd go and take the water pot out. Wasn't going to put the food out til later as it was raining and the mealworms would have been floating in soupy dog food.

 

Got down to the bottom of the garden and there's Horace, scooting about, looking for his food! It was only 9.20pm so I turned round, went back to the kitchen, got his food and took it down the path to the bottom of the garden. 

 

Horace soon raced up to the dish, looking slightly annoyed at being kept waiting! He'd eaten all the mealworms when another hog arrived! Hog 2 took a run at hog 1 and headbutted him right into the water bowl! Hog 1 curled up, defensively. I thought there was going to be a fight and was getting ready to intervene but hog 2 was more interested in the food. While hog 2 was eating, hog 1 ran off into the hedge.

 

Hog 2 ate all the rest of the food, which was a considerable amount, and then ran after hog 1.

By this time, it was pouring with rain and I was wet through! Went back into the house to get more food as they seemed very hungry. They are both identical in size and it would be impossible to distinguish between them if you saw them separately. It was worth getting drenched just to watch their antics!

 

Still waiting for hoglets!
 

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You ought to take a video camera out with you. That way we can all share your enjoyment.

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Pigeons, years ago when we bought this house, it was still in the outbacks almost. Only one next door neighbour and two ex stable blocks, ours and next door. The birds were quite happy to fly in and out of the haylofts and rest on anything they found comfortable. Then my husband bought a shotgun. We fixed a dartboard up against the stable wall and we both " practiced shooting.Finally after a few weeks of this  the pigeons flew away and now we only see them occasionally, but at the moment we have swallows that rest on the telephone wires above our front door.

Gradually the stable and hayloft was renovated and my daughter lives here. ( my mum came to live there but eventually went back to scotland then back here to live with us) My daughter had problems with birds sitting on the balcony railings and nesting under the eves that overhang the walls. She placed these spikes but the little B........s found ways to flutter in between. We dont seem to have so much of a problem now maybe because the dogs frighten them away.

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