My list of birds - from semi-rural Hampshire

[Catscratch]

Regular visitors at the moment include:
Bullfinches
Chaffinches
Greenfinches (not so many lately) :(
Siskins
Blackcaps (more in winter)
Robins
Blue tits
Great tits
Long-tailed tits
Blackbirds
Starlings
Song thrush (occasionally)
Jackdaws
Rooks
Magpies
Collared Doves
Wood Pigeons

Occasional visitors:
Great spotted woodpecker (only ever one at a time)
Green woodpecker (also only one at a time)

We used to see the occasional wren, but I think my cat caught them all (three on the last 6 months) :o

We also had a one-off visit from a pair of fieldfares back in February when the snow was here.

[crissie]

Really bad news that your cat caught three wrens, one of my favourites.
I don't think I would feed birds if i had cats in the garden, perhaps I would using gaurdian feeders and not bother to ground feed. Cats try and bring them into the house don't they, yuck, fortunately I have a very large dog, who seems to be able to sniff a cat out a mile away, no cats are ever in my garden and a neighbours cat has to go the long way home just so it avoids our boundaries, it used to walk past our fence to get into its own garden but where my dog would be trying to scramble over a six foot fence to chase it, it thought better of it and decided to take the long route home, avoiding our garden.

I must add, my dog would never harm a cat, it just likes a chase, He has been over wood pigeons and just looked at them, its caught up with baby rabbitts and the same, looks like " arn't you gonna play"
when he did catch up with a cat, (it was an old blind cat) he got hissed at and swiped with a claw and quickly retreated back to my side.

[Catscratch]

Hi Crissie,
It is always a dilema - cat and birds?
When our previous cat got old the garden became a safe haven - she would sit in the garden and a blackbird would be just a few feet away. The bird knew it was in no danger. Now we have a youngster. I couldn't just stop feding the birds as that might have killed many more than our new cat. A lot of birds visit the garden to feed.
We don't put any food on the ground and we have moved all of our hanging feeders higher. The older birds are quick enough to get away, and they have a coperative alarm system - as soon as one bird spots him, the alarm is sounded. It's just the youngsters that are at risk. We watch when we are home and we keep our cat in at night so he can't go nest robbing.
I really don't know how he managed to catch the wrens - I always thought they would be too quick for him.
Next time it will be a dog!

[Jandy]

I think birds' favourite times for feeding are round about dawn, and early evening before dusk, so perhaps those are the best times not to let your cat out. If the cat wears a collar (the safe type obviously to prevent possible choking) you could attach a bell to it.

[Catscratch]

Thanks Jandy,
All suggestions are welcome. We did think about a bell, but there is another cat in the neighbourhood that attacks him and I don't want to put him in any more danger than I have to. He already has the classic moggy split in one ear from one of his encounters with this other cat.
I am also lucky that there is a wild bird hospital not that far away - for the times when we have to rescue birds that he has caught. Only two trips so far this year - fingers crossed I won't have to make the journey again.

Also, wanted to add the birds I forgot from the first list:
Sparrows (only 2 or 2 at a time now, used to get a whole family of 15 or so a year ago)
Dunnocks (again only a couple at a time)
Sparrowhawk - occasional visitor, fortunately not always successful, although a privilege to see nature at work

and the House Martins that nest at the front of the house.

I think that's it...

[crissie]

Yes I understand catscratch, this is a difficult one,
Jandy's suggestion of keeping the cat in at the regular feeding times is a very good idea.

Also watching your cat and studying any stalking areas he has is a good thing to do, after the study try and foil any stalking areas, like placing prickly cuttings under certain bushes that the cat might use while stalking,
plastic spikes (you can buy these strips) to place on fences/sheds where a cat might use the area to get to the birds.

I see you are trying your best, I suppose the wrens were victims as they are usually on the ground.