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Hi all
My disagreeable next door neighbour has placed a bird scarer on the outside of their bedroom window nearest to my garden, and it is angled directly into my garden, towards the place where all of the nesting tits, robins and nuthatches feed inside their Guardian cages, and where the great spotted woodpecker feeds on the peanut feeder.
It covers a range of 1500 square feet, which is quite a large part of my garden.
This is what it looks like: http://www.pitchcare.com/shop/repellents/model-mp1-silent-bird-scarer.html
I believe that it's the kind of bird scarer that farmers use on their crops to scare birds away from seeded areas. Although I can't hear any high pitched noise, it clicks constantly and it's loud enough that I can hear it from the other side of my garden.
Is there anything I can do about this? I can't see why she should be allowed to scare birds from my garden. If she had placed it flat on the window, then presumably it would scare birds from her garden. That would be up to her, but to deliberately angle it so that it points directly at my garden seems a bit rich.
She has an excessively high and very dense conifer hedge ( approximately 18 feet high) that attracts lots of birds in the area, as they are really tall trees that they can easily nest in. There are robins, chaffinches, tits, starlings, blackbirds and wood pigeons all nesting in her conifers at the moment. By scaring them she may disrupt their breeding. I'm sure she isn't allowed to do that.
There is no discussing anything nicely to this person. She is a crank, and her opinion is the only one that counts. So I'm not sure where to start to even look for help.
Best wishes Chris
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Hi Sparrow
I'm sure we'll think of something.
The manufacturer says she's wasting her time if she thinks birds will be scared away from an attractant i.e. food. The fact that attractants should be removed is one of the criteria about mounting it. Apparently birds will quickly learn to put up with a slightly annoying sound if they are feeding on a good food source.
Rockwolf said:What are the other neighbours like? Do they feed birds?
Hi MarJus
I think everybody feeds birds other than her. Even she has an old peanut feeder that has a couple of old mouldy peanuts left in it, and the other side neighbour thought she might have an old bird table that she no longer uses. The neighbour the other side of her has as many feeders as I do!
She is surrounded by feathery creatures. :-)
Hi Chris,
Just the other day I was laughing at my goldfinches, who feed well out in the middle of the garden. I commented they must have blue tack on the perches because when next doors dog barks, which she does frequently and loudly, they jump and turn their heads, but carry on eating! They used to fly away, but now realise the nasty noise is harmless.
I'm sure your birds will feel the same once they realise it poses no threat.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
I agree Sparrow. We passed a field this morning which has ' gun shot warnings' going off periodicly and the fields were full of crows and rooks. Poor farmer seemed to be losing most of his seeds.
me has not read the thread properly BUT I am steaming that she has aimed a blocker so that the scarer only affects your garden!!!!!
I do so hope you and yours enjoy your basket ball. I know you've been really into it for years!!!!
will go away and have a think!!!!!
Lyndsey
I didn't get to be stupid by being blonde, I was stupid enough to pay to be blonde!!!
my apologies for missing your thread, I've been a bit scarce this week.
What a palaver you have there! The whole situation has annoyed me so I dread to think how you must have been feeling through it all!
If it isn't affecting your birds that's great, if it is there's bound to be something that can be done. Especially since its obviously being aimed at your property and it has nothing to do with her own. Being your airspace and all that, I'd say she wasn't allowed to do that.
If it doesn't work or she hasn't set it up properly/effectively I think that's fantastic! Stupid woman.
I cannot understand what it has got to do with her what you do in or with your garden, so her little gadget shouldn't be there. If things escalate if I were you I'd invite someone from the council to your house and let them see it, as it sounds pretty blatant that its aimed solely at your property.
Good luck with it all, I hope its sorted soon :o)
Hi Chris
Its beginning to look let she has wasted £100+ now that's what I call sweet revenge.Have you noticed any difference in the feeding habits?
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
If you re keeping up with your normal "attractants" how's that going?
would be wonderful is they were more powerful than the "scarer" cos then she's wasted her money!!!!!
of course a razor blade would cut a cable without it being tooooooooo noticiable!!! (sorry)
I was beginning to think that the great spotted woodpecker had been scared off but he came yesterday so that's OK.
I am currently inundated with starling babies and it's really noisy so I'm starting feeding later, and have increased the proportion of bread in my ground feeder so that I'm not being eaten out of house and home.
According to what I have read on the internet there are no privacy laws in the UK that are being broken, so I can only report it as a noise nuisance. As it doesn't seem to be making a lot of noise the birds don't seem to be unduly affected so that's OK.
If she thinks it's working then that's fine with me. I now know that I can easily block it.
Well good for you Chris!! I'm so pleased that the birds are still coming!! Really is great if she has indeed wasted all that money! Lol!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr