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Went into the garden today and a horrible CAT was perched on the fence watching one of my birdboxes! Now I'm worried about any birds that might decide to nest there. I have prickly branches at the bottom of the fence to stop the cat coming through that way - and it did avoid them - and i stuck some branches around the nest box but I don't know if that will help. I'm wondering if it will be better to take the boxes down if there is nothing nesting in them yet?
Bring on the day a cats right to roam free is quashed! It can't come soon enough...
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Always sad to hear Kat. Seen so much myself regarding cats and moving here was a fantastic turning point for us after over 20 years,none to worry about.
If you can get to the cat and give it a good soaking that can help deter them. Screaming and waving your arms whilst running towards them ha ha sorry but boy it works.I used to cut chunks out of my very prickly Berberis Darwini and stick it under all my bushes of which there were many and that took away their hiding places.
Fingers crossed you don't have to take your box down though .
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
Hear, hear Kat,
As I've said many times before no other 'pet' owners would be get away with .................... no i better not start, I'll be banished : )
Hi Kat. Since we lost our dear old cat last year (we vowed we would not have another as we are getting too old ourselves!) , our garden has been visited by 4 or 5 other cats. My husband has invested in a mega-sonic scatter cat. This is a battery operated hand held device which lets out a screeching signal, this can be switched to a position which only cats, foxes, squirrels etc. can hear (i.e not birds or us humans). It does work on MOST of the cats, and one of them now legs it as soon as we open the back door!. We do still have one that sits and defies us. I think you can get these scarers from garden centres or shops that sell electronic gadgets.
Rosie.
I'd go with the running towards them waving your arms and screaming, or giving them a good soaking with the hose - they will soon learn! (if they don't they are either really persistant or really stupid!)
When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity. ~George Bernard Shaw
Hi Rosie i think "open the back door" rings a bell with me as i let 2 of my Dobbies free.Cats are very intelligent and get round most devices including dogs.My dogs wouldn't stay out doors without company so that was a no no.You can spend a fortune and not get great results.On a very small garden the cat scarer that sends out the high pitched signal can work.It is trial and error for most of us.
Unknown said: I'd go with the running towards them waving your arms and screaming, or giving them a good soaking with the hose - they will soon learn! (if they don't they are either really persistant or really stupid!)
Love it LK and sounds just like me but once i went out they would be back so, tough for those that work.Now i don't get cats i have all the time in the world to chase them he he.
I really do sympathize KatTai, dead birds, poo that stinks to high heaven in one's newly dug beds, my poor wren. I love cats but absolutely hate what they do and I vowed years ago to never keep another. I cannot in all conscience keep a major predator in my wildlife garden - so I get next door's instead - sigh! Kez sees them off, but they keep coming back. It's a worry - so I sympathize wholeheartedly - if only they swapped their cats for geckos huh?
I like cats and have one, rescued from a builder's yard.
Given that cats were probably domesticated by man in order to control mice, rats etc from eating grain, I have some respect for them.
I don't have nest boxes because I know our cat will suss them out. However the outhouses provide safe nesting for wagtails, robins and swallows and our ancient holly tree has been a safe haven for several generations of bluetits.
Catty does predate some ground nesting species - yellow hammers in particular - but there are still plenty of them about this year. All these sparrowhawks - do they attract such criticism?
I did make a mistake in the past, thinking it was best to keep the cat inside during the day and out at night, but now have reversed this practice.
That is my (brief) defence of cats.
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
Everyone interested in garden birds usually know cats should always be home at dusk and dawn.I have nothing against cats, just their owners.We dog owners get harassed if we allow them to wander (would never have allowed it) yet cat owners (not all) just open the door and say " They are doing what comes natural"..................Cats should be controlled as dogs should be.I used to own a white, deaf ,beautiful cat that was not allowed to leave our home without company and she would lie in our garden without any threat to our birds.I would have died if she had wandered off because of safety for her.................Through my work,i have lost count of how many cats have gone missing.
No dogs now but can't imagine ever letting any of them wander at their leisure.............
I use a powerful water pistol, the sort that holds a fair bit of water and shoots jet out a long way. I keep our gun/pistol by the door or upstairs on the window sill.
They do not like being sprayed. It is a territorial behavior for them and they get the message, especially is you add something to the water!