Scaredy cats

[Littlepeahead]

There is a blackbird that nests in next door's big hedge. Every year the male gets quite aggressive when the eggs hatch.

Yesterday I could hear him chirruping loudly in my garden and realised he was having a go at my two cats. They eventually got so scared of him that they ran inside and hid. They are not small cats, but huge black moggies each weighing around 7 kilos.

The blackbird used to do the same thing with my other, now deceased, cat. He even went as far as swooping down and trying to peck poor Cromarty when he was innocently sunbathing. Yet when one of the babies fell out of the nest Cromarty very gently picked the little chick up, carried it inside and placed it next to me without harming it and I put it back near the nest.

I think it'v very unfair that my two boys are being bullied in this way. It is their garden and this blackbird is being overly aggressive, especially as my two would struggle to catch a slug.

It is time to take out a restraining order? Or something more drastic... :smt072

[toxic]

Sounds like they're a couple of pussies.

[Reeder]

Air rifle.

[Sir Trev]

Unfortunately next door but one's black cat has murdered all the baby blue tits in my nesting box and one of the adults, so good on the blackbird for sticking it to your two. I got very creative with barbed wire at the weekend and hopefully we'll get a second brood in there. I'll never stoop to an air rifle but I do have several old hose fittings which are excellent cat/squirrel-scaring devices if thrown well.

[Biker Biggles]

I use a dog to keep the pussies in order

[Littlepeahead]

It's the balckbird I need to sort out - not the poor persecuted cats!

[Specialone]

I've got a male and female cat, the birds have done the same to ours, well the female, our male cat wouldn't stand for it and chases them off.
Our female wouldn't go out at one point because of them, yet she can be agressive herself especially to our male cat.

[Bri w]

Bess the dog bosses the blackbirds in our garden, or she did till last week. One of the young fluff balls was make a poor attempt to take to the air, whilst the parents kicked up a 'ell of a racket. Bess goes out to see what is going on, and spots the chick. The parents take it to a new level but Bess just ignores them.

Meanwhile the chick decides she wants to be adopted by Bess and hops over chirping and sits beak to nose. For the next half hour Bess was a mum as the little one followed her around the garden and in and out of the conservatory.

Bizarrely the birds, including the chick now have the run of the garden with neither the adult birds bothering Bess nor Bess them. But the chick and Bess occasionally sit next to each other sniffing and chirping...

And when I get the camera out the bird hops off and Bess goes and lies in her bed... just weird.

[keithd]

Bess the dog bosses the blackbirds in our garden, or she did till last week. One of the young fluff balls was make a poor attempt to take to the air, whilst the parents kicked up a 'ell of a racket. Bess goes out to see what is going on, and spots the chick. The parents take it to a new level but Bess just ignores them.

Meanwhile the chick decides she wants to be adopted by Bess and hops over chirping and sits beak to nose. For the next half hour Bess was a mum as the little one followed her around the garden and in and out of the conservatory.

Bizarrely the birds, including the chick now have the run of the garden with neither the adult birds bothering Bess nor Bess them. But the chick and Bess occasionally sit next to each other sniffing and chirping...

And when I get the camera out the bird hops off and Bess goes and lies in her bed... just weird.

cool. simple as that :)

[BanannaMan]

It is time to take out a restraining order? Or something more drastic... :smt072




More drastic!!! :smt067
I'm an American. It's all we know. :smt102

[garynortheast]

You're becoming more British by the day Bill - irony at that level is an unexpected thing in an American! LOL
More drastic!!! :smt067
I'm an American. It's all we know. :smt102

[Sir Trev]

It's the balckbird I need to sort out - not the poor persecuted cats!

Please send your cats over to teach the local ones here how NOT to decimate the wildlife. Blue tits are not big enough to defend themselves unfortunately and my dog's eyesight does not register anything smaller than a pigeon so is no help at all.

[BanannaMan]

You're becoming more British by the day Bill - irony at that level is an unexpected thing in an American! LOL





Probably just the need to attend AR11 spilling over.
Should know something deffinate in 2 or 3 weeks. [-o<

(sorry for the derail, kill the bird)