Nest vulnerable to Pet Cat

telecaster

Found a birds nest in the overgrowth at ground level in the garden the other day. 4 small pale-blue eggs in it - I'm guessing a robin's. We covered it back up as we found it and have stayed out of that part of the garden as much as we can since.

Problem is, the cat won't. As soon as those chicks hatch and start chirping, our cat is going to make short work of them.

Any suggestions?

magicbastarder

keep the cat in the house.

Zoo4m8

Your nest is a Dunnock's also known as a Hedge Sparrow..

Can't help much with your cat issue, keeping a cat indoors that is not used to using a litter tray is obviously a non runner.. I know one couple who send their cat to 'cat kennels' for about four weeks when fledglings start appearing in their garden,
The cat apparently enjoys it immensely but not a solution for everyone ..

pwurple

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

Your nest is a Dunnock's also known as a Hedge Sparrow..

Can't help much with your cat issue, keeping a cat indoors that is not used to using a litter tray is obviously a non runner.. I know one couple who send their cat to 'cat kennels' for about four weeks when fledglings start appearing in their garden,
The cat apparently enjoys it immensely but not a solution for everyone ..

Wow, that's a lovely idea. Great to hear about cat owners who also care about wildlife.

Half-cocked

Probably not an option if you are a cat lover, but I know someone who put an electric fence around a nest site to keep cats away:eek:

(I hasten to add that it was a 12v system for protecting poultry from foxes etc, non-lethal and no real harm caused)

Zoo4m8

That's an excellent idea, why did I not think of that! Put up electrified netting last Tues to keep sheep out of a freshly sown grass area..

The practicalities for the op would be a problem, unless they know a farmer with the necessary and willing to lend same..

Just an afterthought , if the nest was discovered as a result of gardening activity, clearing etc , the birds might not like the changes to their surroundings and will desert which would make the op's problems academic ...

Guffy

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

That's an excellent idea, why did I not think of that! Put up electrified netting last Tues to keep sheep out of a freshly sown grass area..

The practicalities for the op would be a problem, unless they know a farmer with the necessary and willing to lend same..

Get one of those shock collars they use for dogs?

OpenYourEyes

It might be possible to put up non-electric fencing, just something to block access sufficiently.

Basically OP, you can either deal with the cat (i.e. keep it inside) or deal with the nest (block access to it), but at the end of the day this is the problem with cats! They're often uncontrolled or uncontrollable, and will kill birds and chicks whether they're being fed by humans or not (the cat, not the birds).

Jayzesake

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

...but at the end of the day this is the problem with cats! They're often uncontrolled or uncontrollable, and will kill birds and chicks whether they're being fed by humans or not (the cat, not the birds).

Cats are the consummate hunter, and the fact that they are unnaturally subsidised by us to do so (i.e. by feeding), means there are far more of them than the number of predators that there would otherwise naturally be in an environment. As a result, cats are the cause of massive mortality rates among birds and small mammals, and in many places (not here, thankfully) are a big factor in driving extinction of other species.

Natural born killers: the problem with cats

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/natural-born-killers-the-problem-with-cats

The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2380.html

Quote:
"Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. [...] Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals. Scientifically sound conservation and policy intervention is needed to reduce this impact."

Feral cats cause most of the deaths, but really it's pretty much the same thing, since feral cats are domestic cats that have gone wild, so the one gives rise to the other.

A pity, because they are lovely pets (we have one ourselves).