watervole | Baby bird update

I'm afraid I haven't posted about the robins in the last few days as it's bad news.

The parents (after a few abortive checks) didn't return to the nest in the ivy, from which I conclude that the cat did indeed kill the babies. One of the parents has a tuft of feathers sticking out of his/her back, which rather suggests that the cat came close to getting one of the parents as well. (I wonder which of our neighbours owns a small dark tabby, and if they have any idea of what their cat is doing when its out of their sight...)

It was the first time we'd ever had robins nesting in the garden, so to lose them in this way is really upsetting.

However, there is better news on another front.

I may have mentioned that we had blackbirds nesting in the (very prickly) hedge, among the climbing rose. We had been concerned about them for the last couple of days, as Mr and Mrs B had started building a new nest in the wisteria over the lounge window. However, this morning, they brought the babies to visit. Two young blackbirds, who presumably fledged yesterday or this morning. The parents must started work on nest number two as soon as the babies were ready to leave the first nest. (they don't reuse the same nest as that increases the risk from parasites)

Blackbirds like to use some mud in the construction of their nests. We discovered this the amusing way... Richard was given some watercress seed by his mother and duly planted it in a container that we keep very wet. Yesterday, Mr B was rooting madly in it. Was it worms he was after? No. He filled his beak with a large ball of mud and flew up to the wisteria. We debated moving the tub so that he wouldn't destroy any potential seedlings, but it wasn't a very long debate. (about half a second) Baby blackbirds won out over potential watercress.

This will be the first time we've ever had two blackbird nests in one year.

So, if you want baby birds in your garden, here are my current tips:

1. Prickly hedge. Pyracantha, hawthorn, blackthorn, anything really as long as it discourages cats. Cut it back so that it stays bushy and not too straggly. Climbing roses grow well through hedges like this. (pruning tips to get amazing loads of flowers on your climbing rose are available on request)

2. Lots of plants. Lots and lots of plants. British natives are probably best, but everything that grows is an asset.

3. A bit of bare, dry soil. Sparrow in particular love a good dust bath. The space under my rosemary is popular at present.

4. A bit of soil with dead leaves, twiggy bits, etc. Just like the soil under my raspberries, which is free of plants because I weed it, but covered in interesting twiggy, leafy, bitty compost that I mulch it with every year. Blackbirds and dunnocks just love rooting around for insects.

5. Climbing plants. On every possible surface. We get birds nesting in both the ivy and the wisteria. There isn't a gardener in the world who can't grow ivy!

6. A pond. Not always possible, but birds bath in it, drink it, catch insects that live in it and seem to flock to the plants that grow in it. (there's not much point in a pond unless you have plants in it)

7. A bird bath. The little birds use the bath, the big ones use the shallow part of the pond.

8. Nest boxes. Good for blue tits and great tits. Unlikely to be useful for any other species.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sad about the robins. We have one robin visitor to the garden, but our hedge at the back seems to be home to polyamorous blackbirds: mama and two daddies. I am quite worried about any babies at the moment: next door's cat died last month, and our garden is territory up for grabs. A quite nasty black cat has been prowling around the last week or two: I had to face it off last week (boy did it hiss and spit!). But I've only seen it in the front garden since.

Sorry you lost your robins. Sounds like you are well on your way to creating a miniature bird heaven though. If you build it they will come.

I am sorry about the loss of your robin babies. The cats, however, are only doing what comes naturally. It has been thus since the dawn of time. We have loads of cats, but seem to still manage to have a rather sizeable bird population. Of course, our cats are belled.

The main reason my cats are indoor-only is for their own safety; but this, too, is a factor. I'm sorry.

You're my kind of cat owner. I adore cats as individuals, but am much happier when they're indoors.

Put in a bigger nestbox and you have a chance of great spotted woodpeckers.

Do they like gardens? There's not many mature trees round here, just a scattering of oaks and pines.

I wonder if I can put anything around the pond so it discourages the cats. Two of them now have the habit of hanging around waiting for the frogs to hop out. The pond is also covered in pondweed but that is another matter.

How about a low prickly hedge? A safety corridor for the frogs. Actually, any thing that gives them ground cover, such as low-growing plants, will improve the odds and give them somewhere shady to hide out during the day.

a low one would be ok. Just thinking that I need to be able to get to the pond to maintain it. There is a lot more vegetation around it than there was last year so maybe the frogs have more of a chance. One of the cats runs off when I approach but the other just looks up as if to say, 'Oh, it's you.'

Access is very handy! If the vegetation around the pond is getting established, that will help a lot.

Try a water pistol. Doesn't hurt, but does give a nasty surprise. (I like cats too much to actually want to hurt one)

Hissing is also good. sound like an angry cat.

It wasn't necessarily a cat. This a time of year when the flying predators are out and about, too -- certainly round here the kestrel and the magpies are doing more harm than the various local cats. The magpies in particular are a real pain here, as they bully smaller birds away from food, too. Indeed, this morning, my cat Moon was sunning herself outside, surrounded by birds which were ignoring her and she was ignoring them. She only became interested when the squirrel appeared (which she proceeded to chase up a tree and then ignore). And my two male cats very rarely catch birds (they bring anything they catch back to the garden, so we tend to know about it). We had one last year and none at all so far this year. Birds are hard work for cats to catch, and if they're well-fed at home, they often don't bother. (Baby rabbits, sadly, are another matter entirely.)

It was absolutely a cat. See my posting of a few days ago. We heard the robin's alarm call, saw the cat by the nest (that's how I know which cat it was) and ran out. We were too late.

We'd hoped that the cat hadn't got all the babies, but the parents stopped visiting the nest, so it's pretty obvious they are dead.

We lose the odd sparrow to a local sparrowhawk, but sparrowhawks have babies to feed too. We don't begrudge those.

(I have to point out that you have no evidence that *Everything* they catch is brought back. You only see the stuff they bring back. You don't see stuff that they don't bring back. Statistically, the average cat takes 30 birds and small mammals a year)

Your robins would be safe from Maxwell, unless they are cuddly toy robins, of course.
When he starts lining the Beanie Babies up in rows, I start to get worried. I found the purple elephant face down in the bath the other week.

FF, owner of the mighty Beanie Baby Hunter

I am sorry about your robins.
However, I can't wholly empathise with you in other ways, because keeping cats in all the time is not a solution. Mine wear bells, they are well-fed and that cuts down their hunting. I keep them in at dawn and dusk for the sake of birds feeding. We have three bird feeders, all out of cat reach (if not squirrel reach), we currently have juvenile blue tits, collared doves, great tits and starlings, plus nesting blackbirds. I worry over our birds and keep an eye on them. So far, no harm has come to them from any of the cats (though the two magpies have attacked the tits several times).
I'm working on not perceiving your bracketed final comment as an attempt at bullying me. That would make it twice in the last three months that you've reduced me to tears.

I apologise. It absolutely was not my intention to make you feel belittled or threatened in any way. I apologise for the previous occasion as well. I can't remember exactly what happened now, but I'm sure it was my fault and not yours.

that's very kind: thank you. (And I really am very sorry about your robins.)

Bless you. (And I think you count high on the responsible cat owner scale)

I've heard that statistic quite a few times: I'd be interested to know more about the study that generated it?

Baby bird update

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