Sparrowhawks

[Walter swanston]

There is an excellent letter in the Herald this morning from a Glasgow man who lost all the small birds he had attracted to his garden through the predations of a sparrow hawk.He complained to the RSPB and after receiving no help terminated his membership.Very refreshing to read this sort of positive publicity.

[Kyleakin Lofts]

Too few of the RSPB supporters are aware of this sort of thing. I was speaking to a farmer who was told not to cut one of his silage fields because of birds nesting. He was unaware that farmers were being blamed for the decline of songbirds due to their farming methods and stated they now farm in a nature friendly way.

[just ask me]

would love too see it walter ill try look it up was out in a small wood recently when u actually stop and listen u hear nothing was sad really years ago it was a ball of noise of all the different small birds

[showman]

This winter / spring I was going to re-instate our feeders etc. for the wild birds. As we live in a rural area, with fields to our back, we used to attract a fair cross-section of the smaller species, and their presence gave us much entertainment and joy. With one thing or another, it hasn't been followed through. It was all brought back into my thoughts when, yesterday, in one of the young trees on our boundary we had 4 Goldfinches. Out of all the species we used to attract, to my knowledge, we never had Goldfinches here. It was great to see them !!

Unfortunately I am in a quandary. If I was to use RSPB guidelines, surely the future of garden birds visiting would be placed in deeper jeopardy ? Yes, I would be providing a constant source of food for them through the winter and early spring. But would I not also be providing a 'larder' for birds of prey, which as we know are protected ?

Where do I turn to be doing the right thing ?

[gulkie]

Done away with my feeders And bird bath ,i still have a couple of nest boxes but

There has not Been any intrest in them for the last few years And i live on the edge

Of a naturÄ™ reserve.i think the only naturÄ™ is the BOP And the odd sparrow And

Some starlings ,nowhere near as many as there was a few years ago ,so why bother

When the RSPB dont give a sh#t.

[paddymac]

There is an excellent letter in the Herald this morning from a Glasgow man who lost all the small birds he had attracted to his garden through the predations of a sparrow hawk.He complained to the RSPB and after receiving no help terminated his membership.Very refreshing to read this sort of positive publicity.

Hopefully he'll not be the first and more members of the public will see the devastation these killers are really causing everwhere they settle with the help of the RSPB.

[REDROCKET]

The woods close to our lofts is littered with piles of feathers where the hawk has had a recent kill.

[eastcoaster]

My garden must buck the trend as it is stowed with loads of small birds from finches to woodpecker but also the Sparra hen now and again ! Am missing a really nice blue cock tonight from exercise so Percy must also visit ,

[airdrie2]

The woods close to our lofts is littered with piles of feathers where the hawk has had a recent kill.

THEN YOU WILL KNOW WHERE IT GOES THEN TO PICK

[Michael J Burden]

Our garden has plenty of little birds in it along with the Uks smallest bird, not the wren along with Jays jackdaws and magpies. We do get hit by the sparrow hawk who also takes the odd pigeon. We have blue tits in the box too. I hate to see the sparrow hawk hunting but what can we do to stop it. Don;t answer this please. MJB

[Walter swanston]

The sparrow hawk is using your garden as a fast food restaurant

[scottym7]

I got hit by the hawk three times in Sunday thankfully i was in the garden and just sat down to have a coffee for the first hit which was 10ft from me, i was considering puttin my youngsters out that had not been out yet but decided to put the ones that had been out 3 times they were scattered everywhere and 50% could not be seen however by 7pm all had returned and no casualties - i am now looking for some form of hawk deterant so any ideas folks????

One bonus my birds got good excercise and they batched tonight for 40 minutes.

[gulkie]

The woods close to our lofts is littered with piles of feathers where the hawk has had a recent kill.

Steve iv Lost 4 in the last month i cant blame the BOPS as i havent seen them at work.

But they should not have gone AWOL.

[Valiant Fifer]

Hopefully he'll not be the first and more members of the public will see the devastation these killers are really causing everwhere they settle with the help of the RSPB.

Spot on m8, quicker something gets done the better for all bird lovers!

[Valiant Fifer]

Yout not seeing it happen but dont delude yerself m8 thats exactly whats happening i'm afraid. :o :o :o

[Guest TAMMY_1]

yesterday we had a bit of a puzzler,in the cottage garden Liz saw a pile of pigeon feathers so we know we had another sparrowhawk visit but strange thing was on the large table in the cottage garden were huge piles of Sparrowhawk feathers as well,pigeon was okay but haven't a clue about hawk feathers all over the place as well,something but not sure what had a go at the hawk

[Valiant Fifer]

Could have been a few crows or a cat. Hopefully not a Goshawk. WITH A BIT O LUCK IT WAS SOME CROWS, sometimes good allies to have on ur side !

[Guest TAMMY_1]

Could have been a few crows or a cat. Hopefully not a Goshawk. WITH A BIT O LUCK IT WAS SOME CROWS, sometimes good allies to have on ur side !

know it was not a cat as they never visit anywhere near here with the greyhounds about all the time,but what you are saying about crows is bang on as last week a sparrowhawk had a pigeon pinned down in the field nearest the house as I was busy Liz came running out to me telling me something was wrong as there must have been about 20 crows just dive bombing at something in the field,when I got over they were all diving at the hawk and it let the pigeon go and just seemed to disappear and the pigeon was okay apart from a lot of feathers missing,but we get hundreds of crows around us as there are lots of farmers working fields close to us plus we have several crows nests in the trees around our farm and never chase them off .

[Valiant Fifer]

Good stuff m8 dont chase them off their territorial and sometimes come in handy when u need a little help.

Great how they sometimes give the game away if u know what i mean.

 

Hawk got a starling or sparrow tonight behind the loft and it was squeeling for its life, however it took it away no problem with its feet. I can consider myself lucky as my birds were out at the time some just froze and half a dozen scarpered!

[Valiant Fifer]

I dont really think fanciers can relax when these killing machines are in the mood. Once my birds are out i dont go anywhere, gotta be at the loft to see whats happening. Hopefully we pigeon fanciers get some piece from them towards the end of April or early May. Thats when i find it usually settles down and i can turn my back for the next few months and do other things.

Cant do nothing about race days though with Percy, thev'e got more protection than children. :angry: :emoticon-0179-headbang: :emoticon-0179-headbang:

[buster151]

Had 3 hawks flying around today for over an hour birds wouldn't land