HELP!!! Something (cat?) digging up my pots

Sometimes it seems inevitable that cyclamen will be dug up, I've lost loads over the years but I don't learn…however at the moment I have some in planters and some in the garden and so far they are all surviving. It seems as though if they can survive 6 months they won't be dug up. (Crosses fingers). They do sometimes go rotten though.

Possibly its just that they have more root growth and are well anchored.

It doesn't sound like they're trying to dig things up though, since they're just throwing them out of the planter or out of their way. It sounds more like they're trying to bury things and coming back to check on the things they've buried. This really makes me think, like others have suggested, that it's crows or magpies who are known to cache food.

If that's the case, it would be easy enough to catch the culprit, since they're not nocturnal. Just get up before dawn and spy on the planter from a distance.

If you get up before dawn and damage has definitely been done during the pitch dark of night, the only other thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is rats. They also cache food and they are extremely clever and persistent.

But it does look more like birds and also you said chilli powder didn't work. Mammals will be put off by it but birds won't.

It wasn't dug up while you were away? Those birds know something!

Was looking at my potted plants today, found a lewisia cotledon and saxifraga pulled from their pots and dumped on the ground. Also soil from a pot with a load of small bulbs (either muscari, pushkinia or ipheoin, can't remember what I planted were) scattered everywhere.

Would this be birds collecting things for their nests? I've seen starlings pull out moss and leaves from our gutters on a few occasions this time of year.

Thanks. That's annoying. I really hope they don't do it to any more pots. I have bird feeders and I keep them well stocked, but I can imagine they would prefer live insects to seeds.

The birds that eat grubs would (mostly) not be interested in eating seeds.

Apparently it was blackbirds, the other half saw it. I see them in the garden a lot, but now that I think about it below the feeders but not eating from it. I thought they were eating ones that fell loose like the pigeons do.

Is there anything I can do for them in the winter? Do they need support then?

Oh I get that now regarding foxes. I actually had magpies pull up a load of small bulbs I planted in the back of my side garden in January (bought loads when reduced), I'm guessing it was ipheoin as I've had a few of everything else come up. It was definitely either one bulb variety or either one location they were interested in mucking up, as in the same general area Tulips, muscari, pushkiana, crocuses and glory of the snow have all appeared. I have daffodils and narcissus nearby and they were fine too. They must have some motivation to do it, maybe just mischief.