Do you feed the garden birds?

[Hazel]

I've stopped feeding the birds all summer as Mama Cass caught a couple and I didn't want to lure more into the garden to encourage her, especially not any fledglings.

Now its getting cold I'm undecided whether to buy a load more bird food or not - do people think it keeps more birds alive than she will catch?

[Walesgang]

Hi Hazel

We feed the wild birds all year round. We have 5 feeders of various types around the garden. They are all close enough to trees/shrubs for the birds to get to. They also have good view of the cats sneaking up.

Ok, the gang do get the occassional one, but overall, I think we sustain a very healthy, varied and large population of feathered friends

[bobbys girl]

Same here Hazel. Purdy has caught the odd one. I had to rig the bird table with chicken wire - it looks like a rooftop helipad now.

Our bird table is in the middle of the lawn and the peanuts are situated at the top of a post that has a nice thorny rose around it!

We have bird boxes too - one with a camera. Purdy watches them on TV.

Our garden is full of birds all winter. Next door only gets crows.

[MarkB]

When I took an injured Magpie to one of the VNs next door who runs a wildlife rescue, I asked if I should stop feeding birds. She said definitely not. She said the good outweighs the occasional casualty. I guess if your cats are hunters and it happens a lot, it is a different story. Mine don't. Even Domino doesn't bother going after them. I have to admit that I stopped putting seeds out, so just get the meat eaters. I feed the seagulls (we have a lot of leftover cat food and I supplement it with cans. After the seagulls have fed (and sometimes cats) the Starlings, blackbirds, Magpies etc have a feed. We even had a Crow for a while earlier in the year.

[Crewella]

I do the same - I feed the birds, but do try to make sure I feed them in places where they get a good view of any approaching feline and have a reasonable chance of escape.

[lilynmitz]

I do feed the birds all year, although when I had Mo, who was a ferocious hunter, I did stop, as it was more like bait for his hunting than food for the birds.

There are a fwe things you can do to help protect the birds:

1. Make sure the bird feeder is away from shrubs or other things the cat can hide below/behind and pounce on them.

2. Cut away the bottom of shrubs so the cat can't lurk there un-noticed.

3. Fit the cat with a quick release collar and bell - the RSPB says that bells reduce the kill rate by about a third.

4. Keep your cat in between dusk and dawn, when birds are most vulnerable - they're busy concentrating on food, some birds are almost exclusively early morning feeders, and birds' eyesight is nowhere near as good as a cat's in poor light/darkness,

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Hi Hazel

Since we had the cat proofing put up and our neighbour cut back his overhanging trees we have sadly had fewer birds but I'm hoping the cold weather will bring them back. Edgar is very interested in them but only attempts to catch the larger birds such as magpies and wood pigeons So far he has been unsuccessful and likewise manic squirrel chases have been fruitless. He has a double bell collar and he is so unsubtle as he lumbers down the garden I think it's worth the risk to keep food available as it gets colder.

[claire_lee]

I agree its worth the risk - and yes for the really good hunters out there that can still catch birds with a bell attached to their collar try two bells - apparently 2 rattle against each other and are more difficult to keep quiet.

The other thing that we found useful was putting holly round the base of the feeders (we used the bits that we'd cut for Christmas once it was over). Kept the cats away from the bits the birds drop