Essex Birds!

[crissie]

No photo unfortunately, I was already in the garden with no camera, looked up and there it was, Couldn't believe my eyes at first, I've no idea how long it had been there. I was so close I didn't want to move so to not scare it away. I stood looking for some time right on the lower part of the house roof, when it flapped its huge wings to take off it looked so slow for the first few flaps then away it went. It flew off towards the open fields.

I'm sure many people have seen a crane take flight before but when its on your roof and you are real close it was pretty amazing!

Yes, east anglia, I am right near the suffolk border, however my birds round here are "Essex Birds" so perhaps they all behave differently to birds in other locations.

[Rowena]

we have a pair of bullfinch nearby crissie. sometimes i dont see them for a few weeks, but they seem to pop up every now & again. beautiful birds. we also have a pair of blackcaps !

[crissie]

latest pest, "Pest because he/she knocks the feeders down.

I have another set of feeders across the garden and he goes from one to the other,
If hubby ties the feeders on then I can't reach them easily, its a pain.
I've tried feeding area for just the "pest" but it still visits all feeders.

[Penna]

Hi Crissie,
To stop the Squidge knocking your feeders off try tying a loop of wire from the bracket to the feeder, if it is knocked of it will then still hang on the wire.
Have you thought about "Squirrel Busters" ? these are seed feeders that the Squirrel cannot get onto, or cages that will help protect your feeders.
Sometimes you can get the expense of a Squirrel proof feeder back as the food will last much longer.
You can get the cages from C.Js and the Squirrel proof feeders from either C,J or Jacobi Jayne.

[liferjoe]

They really can be a nuisance, can't they! Hope you get something sorted, though they're so clever unless you make everything squirrel proof they'll just keep going!

[Rowena]

hi liferjoe - i expect you have probably tried this, but squirrels tend to go for the least line of resistance, so putting some food around that is much easier to access, well away from the feeding area may help? try a squirrel feeder attached to a tree or fench post? or as Penna suggests, we do have a squirrel resistant guardian feeder range

hope this helps

[liferjoe]

Originally Posted by Rowena

hi liferjoe - i expect you have probably tried this, but squirrels tend to go for the least line of resistance, so putting some food around that is much easier to access, well away from the feeding area may help? try a squirrel feeder attached to a tree or fench post? or as Penna suggests, we do have a squirrel resistant guardian feeder range

hope this helps

Hi Rowena, thanks for the advice but it's not me with the problem, it's Crissie! It sounds like she's already tried feeding the squirrels, too, though to no avail

[Rowena]

sorry! i got carried away with reading all the posts. the only other thing i can suggest is to stop feeding altogether for a week or two in the hope the squirrels get the message and move on! its a bit drastic, but a short term loss of birds could lead to long term benefit?