General Chat

Harry, there was a baby robin in our garden today. :-) Joy

We have 3 bird tables and 5 bird feeders in our small garden and we get loads of birds feeding. At the moment we have a family of young fledgling starlings who decimate the suet feeder and fat balls, three collard doves, three wood pigeons a pair of blackbirds and their youngster, blue tits, some gold finches, loads of sparrows, robins, and the occasional greenfinch and chaffinch. (We also have a squirrel who visits one of the bird tables sometimes). and I have to add we have a cat who, although 15 is still agile and loves to chase birds. (When shecan avoid us!!) We spend a lot of time on bird watch and so far this year she has been unlucky. when we have a nest in the garden we keep her in unless we are with her. She is very much a sleepy home cat any way so doesn't mind being in. Ann Glos

Joy, That,s very nice to hear. Every garden should have one. Love the way they apparently listen to you as they wait by your spade. Mine never flies away when i,m talking.Sounds far-fetched, but true non-theless. Happy days

Harry, a robin has become attached to us today and didn't seem afraid of the squirrel advancing to the bird table! :-) Joy

Rosemary, Will give ita look-in. I used to work in widnes and their bridge was home to thousands of starlings. the noise was terrible, so I sympathise . Nice to hear from you. happy days

Harry, Enoyed hearing about your Robins. I have one which comes to the bird table regularly but have not seen any fledglings this year. One morning last week I counted 17 baby Starlings in my patch. The noise was horrendous! Also have young Blackbirds coming for food. Unfortunately I have a very large Ginger cat who visits (Bagpuss). Don't know where he comes from,but he spends most of the day in either mine or my neighbours garden. Have a new cat deterrent coming next week in the form of a puppy. Trouble is Bagpuss will be about four times his size! Are you doing this week's Nestwatch? Try going on to http://ww.rsp.org.uk Rosemary(Essex)

I'd be had up by the cruelty to vermin brigade!!! :-) Joy

Once again. thanks for some lovely replies. Joy - you should smack their bottoms. Happy days

a robin came looking for food here ..... but the squirrels had had it!! Joy

We have blue tits nesting in the cavity wall through our archway - what a great way to start the day to watch the small ones playing in my garden tree Beve

What a lovely thread - it's encouraged me to buy a bird box when I get paid this month! Debby

Not soppy at all Harry, I stopped and said hello to a robin just yesterday on my way home from town. I felt so privilaged that he sat and listened to me, lol. Margaret

Deb, you need two robins you know...... Lovely message, many thanks. Happy days

What a lovely thread not soppy at all, it makes a change to read nice things. We get lots of different birds in our garden and get so much pleasure from them. We have a bird feeding station which we bought from the garden centre and it's placed in the garden so we can see it from the conservatory. I could spend hours watching their antics if time allowed. We have a resident blackbird who's been with us for about 4 years now, the last 4-5 weeks we've watched him run ragged feeding his new babies, in fact the first day they came out of the nest i felt as though i was on babysitting duty, making sure they didnt get attacked by the cats or falling in the water barrel when perched on the edge. We have a Robin too but sadly i don't think i've ever seen a baby one. all the best Deb X

Thanks again folks. Now raining heavily here. just been out in the garden - no robin. And we call THEM bird brained. happy days

I saw a lovely little robin this morning! Aileen

A lovely story, Harry and wonderful replies. In a chaotic world it is so good to hear about nature, birds and all wild things. I would dearly love to feed the birds from my little patio, but the malevolent car next door would probably scare them away? Anyway, thank you for that, I can picture you and baby robin as you do your gardening. BC

Sorry. No camera and wouldn,t know how to post anyway. lovely thought though. If anyone is interested in the cat (animal) scarer, contact me separately. i gave details on here once before to somebody and it didn,t work for him. some lovely bits and pieces on this thread. Many thanks

Harry, thats really lovely. When I moved into my house eleven years ago, my garden was an expanse of mud and nothing. Now I have a pond, hedging on one side, and a wildflower garden to attract bugs. In the last five years, I have gone from a barren garden (no birds, bugs or otherwise) to seeing my very first coal tit this decade! (loads of other tit varieties... but the first coal tit... I was so happy!) I have wrens and a robin nesting, have seen butterflies and ladybirds this year (35+ ladybirds in one looking), slow worms, newts, frogs, ... and so much more, that have not been in this garden for many a year before I lived here. Don't go thinking I have a large garden... it's not that big - and anyone can have birds and bugs in their garden if they leave a little space and think about growing native plants (mostly thought of as weeds). Harry... any chance of taking photos of your feathered friend and posting them somewhere for us to see? I'm sure if more people knew how easy it was to get wildlife in their garden, they would all have fun encouraging birds, etc in.

Marianne, Amen to that. Now departing from this board to talk to my little friend. Half an hour of both is my motto. happy days