The Hide (chat thread)

[Deleted User] · 21-05-2020 6:37am

Sad to declare that any of my tolerance/compassion towards starlings has entirely evaporated - quite literally haven’t had a proper sleep in weeks with the nests in the eaves of the house next door. I’ve been able to put up with it annually for years at this stage but this year is the worst yet, several nests. Hate to blame an animal just following it’s instincts but this is torturous, feel like I’m being slowly driven insane. All of my live and let live has been exhausted. I hate them.

OpenYourEyes · 21-05-2020 11:03am

Batrachotox wrote: »

Sad to declare that any of my tolerance/compassion towards starlings has entirely evaporated - quite literally haven’t had a proper sleep in weeks with the nests in the eaves of the house next door. I’ve been able to put up with it annually for years at this stage but this year is the worst yet, several nests. Hate to blame an animal just following it’s instincts but this is torturous, feel like I’m being slowly driven insane. All of my live and let live has been exhausted. I hate them.

Roughly two weeks of incubation, three weeks to raise the chicks to fledging - when you see them, check the nest is empty and block it up. You can provide Starling nestboxes somewhere else in the garden if you want the best of both worlds - i.e. not deny the starlings some nest space, but also don't want the noise etc in the house!

[Deleted User] · 21-05-2020 12:38pm

Yeah I would 100% have gone with this option but unfortunately it’s the vacant property next door they are nesting in so I can’t legally go climbing about on the roof! Once it’s occupied again it’ll be one of the first things I bring up with the new neighbours

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much an animal lover and hate the idea of harbouring such resentment against an animal, but I’m not a great sleeper at the best of times and honestly I’ve just been worn down to a nub by them. Hopefully this will be the last year I’ve to live with them not in nest boxes. Fingers crossed.

gzoladz · 22-05-2020 7:19am

Funnily enough I have got my garden invaded with starlings fledglings...the feeders areas became nobody's land...tens of starlings calling and moving non stop, chased by magpies and jackdaws that also have a go at each other. Hoodies appear a few times a day to bully everywhere...stress levels of the feral pigeons, who "own" the feeders are up the roof. All this mixed up with a few other garden bird chicks.

And to top it up, the neighbors' cat appears a few times a day trying to take advantage of the situation.

magicbastarder · 22-05-2020 7:42pm

this is amazing:

https://twitter.com/hcs_lambert/status/1263533175864799239

SnowyMuckish · 22-05-2020 9:13pm

gzoladz wrote: »

..the feeders areas became nobody's land...tens of starlings calling and moving non stop

When I started feeding birds for the first time years ago I used to spend a fortune on bird food. The starlings were public enemy number 1 for me. They used to swoop down and decimate my feeders. When I expressed my frustration to my late father, he paused for thought and said, yes they are a nuisance but they need to live and eat too. So I went onto cj wildlife and bought some cages for the main feeders (otherwise I’d be bankrupt!) and in a quieter area of the garden I lay seed out for the larger birds.

Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate starlings. When you look at them closely, their subtle feathers are really strikingly colourful, they have the amazing ability to mimic the birdsongs of other species and watching their murmuration is an awe inspiring experience.

Bsal · 22-05-2020 11:45pm

Starlings are one of my favourite birds to have in the garden, they have so much character and personality and not to mention how beautiful they are. The murmurations ain't bad either

fryup · 23-05-2020 2:05pm

its weird the way their feathers catch the light with a purple & green hue

gzoladz · 24-05-2020 7:07pm

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

When I started feeding birds for the first time years ago I used to spend a fortune on bird food. The starlings were public enemy number 1 for me. They used to swoop down and decimate my feeders. When I expressed my frustration to my late father, he paused for thought and said, yes they are a nuisance but they need to live and eat too. So I went onto cj wildlife and bought some cages for the main feeders (otherwise I’d be bankrupt!) and in a quieter area of the garden I lay seed out for the larger birds.

Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate starlings. When you look at them closely, their subtle feathers are really strikingly colourful, they have the amazing ability to mimic the birdsongs of other species and watching their murmuration is an awe inspiring experience.

Thanks for the story Snowy

I wasn't complaining about Starlings, just describing the current state of p!ay and my surprise by the invasion, I am sorry if it came across like that.

SnowyMuckish · 24-05-2020 9:44pm

gzoladz wrote: »

Thanks for the story Snowy I wasn't complaining about Starlings, just describing the current state of p!ay and my surprise by the invasion, I am sorry if it came across like that.

Gee I never meant to come across that way! Please take no offence it wasn’t at all a criticism, sorry if it came across like that

just sharing my own experiences.

fryup · 26-05-2020 10:24pm

BBC's Springwatch started tonight, doing it lockdown style

magicbastarder · 09-06-2020 10:44pm

i've a vague memory of asking the same question a couple of years ago; anyone ever bought the lidl trail cam? they have them in again on thursday.

Zoo4m8 · 11-06-2020 7:37am

magicbastarder wrote: »

i've a vague memory of asking the same question a couple of years ago; anyone ever bought the lidl trail cam? they have them in again on thursday.

I did, very happy with it till I dropped and broke it!

Half-cocked · 15-06-2020 12:32am

For the last few months we've had a hedgehog visiting the garden every night. I've used trail cameras to keep an eye on it and left out small amounts of cat food for it. Then, about 2 weeks ago it stopped coming. Last week I replaced my garden gate at the side of the house. Tonight, I went out after dark to look for moths and discovered our hedgehog (it has distinct markings) sitting outside the gate. As soon as I opened it, it marched in and proceeded to devour several slugs while we watched it by torchlight. Lesson: make sure there is enough room under garden gates for wildlife to access. I just don't know where it was for the first week while the old gate had a big gap under it. Tomorrow I'm cutting a hedgehog door into the bottom of the new gate.

appledrop · 15-06-2020 9:36pm

You have a very well behaved hedgehog! Ours ate through the bottom of garden gate when we blocked up his other entrance one day by mistake.

Lesson learned by us!

gzoladz · 17-06-2020 7:28pm

gzoladz wrote: »

Small update on my 2 pairs of allegedly breeding sparrowhawks...the D4.1 pair has gone expectedly very quite since incubation started. This month I have only seen one bird once, last week, arriving into the nest, but given that this is now very covered and that the action was extremely fast I am not sure if it was the m or f, although I suspect the female. All going well eggs would hatch the first week of June.

For the D4.2 pair, I got the male nearly everytime I went to check (every 2 or 3 days) in the same tree until last week, and the female once last week in the same location with catch. She flew into the tree where I suspect a nest is located, but I have never seen it. For the last week, I have not seen or heard either m&f, so they may well be on eggs or moved on.

A few updates

Exciting times ahead for the D4.1 (Ballsbridge) pair - I estimate that eggs hatched early last week. I have not heard chicks but saw one yesterday through the scope for the first time.
The female is always visible, I saw the male once last week delivering food, although this should start happening more often as the ckick(s) grow.
Today I only saw the female in the afternoon, and one chick in the early evening. It was quite until then and worrying given the amount of rain from last night. I was thrilled to see both the female and at least one chick well.
I still don't know how many chicks are there as all I see is a little white head of a fraction of a second, but I don't know if it is alway the same bird or now

The D4.2 (UCD) is more difficult to predict as the nest is in a much less visible location. I have seen both birds flying into the nest but never in the nest.
The male is almost always perching at the same branch. I suppose the female is in the nest if this is active, but I will not know until/if I see/hear chicks.

Base price · 18-06-2020 2:25am

Just wondering if any of ye know the reason for a substantial increase in the death rate of baby/juvenile bats. Reason I ask is that my brother has found 15 dead baby bats on the floor in the last two weeks whilst other years he would only find two or three. Could it be due to the drought or higher than average temperatures that we're having here in North Longford?

The bats arrive sometime in April to roost on the rafters in the extension of our late Grandparents house. In the past 12/13 years the colony has grow from less than 10 to over 60 last year.

AFAIK they are common Pipistrelles but stand corrected. A pic of one that we found dead earlier last year after several nights of hard frosts.

Ulmus · 18-06-2020 11:17am

That's a very high mortality. Contact Bat Conservation Ireland: https://www.batconservationireland.org/.

Always wear protective gloves if handling bats, dead or alive: https://cdn.bats.org.uk/pdf/Resources/Rabies-documents/Wearing-gloves-when-you-handle-bats_March2019.doc.pdf?mtime=20190329171331&focal=none

gzoladz · 28-06-2020 7:36am

gzoladz wrote: »

A few updates

Exciting times ahead for the D4.1 (Ballsbridge) pair - I estimate that eggs hatched early last week. I have not heard chicks but saw one yesterday through the scope for the first time.
The female is always visible, I saw the male once last week delivering food, although this should start happening more often as the ckick(s) grow.
Today I only saw the female in the afternoon, and one chick in the early evening. It was quite until then and worrying given the amount of rain from last night. I was thrilled to see both the female and at least one chick well.
I still don't know how many chicks are there as all I see is a little white head of a fraction of a second, but I don't know if it is alway the same bird or now

The D4.2 (UCD) is more difficult to predict as the nest is in a much less visible location. I have seen both birds flying into the nest but never in the nest.
The male is almost always perching at the same branch. I suppose the female is in the nest if this is active, but I will not know until/if I see/hear chicks.

Counting the chicks...at least 3. It is not an easy task from the road as I see the nest from below, at an angle and they place is leafy, but there is definitely 3. For the last 2 or 3 days at least one stands and flaps his wings. I estimate that the eldest may have 20% of adult plumage.

The female spends more and more time perching outside of her nest, which feels crowded. I suppose it is no different to how you feel after a few months working from home and home schooling your children...I did consider perching in a high branch outside of my place myself during those times!!!

My estimate for the chicks fledging was revised to the second week of June.

BTW, I was interviewed for Mooney Goes Wild on the Sparrowhawks, what was a lof of fun to do, and a very nice bonus to this lockdown project! I think it will air on Mon 6th.

New Home · 29-07-2020 12:06pm

Anything I can do to help this gorgeous creature? Its wings never developed properly, or were damaged.It has only 4 legs, too, which is odd in itself.

Eddie B · 29-07-2020 1:59pm

New Home wrote: »

Anything I can do to help this gorgeous creature? Its wings never developed properly, or were damaged.It has only 4 legs, too, which is odd in itself.

PTS

Half-cocked · 01-08-2020 5:04pm

Sparrowhawk has made 2 successful kills in the garden today (that I've seen, that is, could be more!). Young house sparrows are an easy target.

appledrop · 01-08-2020 6:13pm

We have had also had two kills from our local Sparrowhawk in recent times.

We have plenty of sparrows but ours prefers pigeons so every now + then its like a murder scene on garden lawn!

I suppose very easy pickings around her with pigeons + so dozy they are much easier to catch.

appledrop · 01-08-2020 6:17pm

I cant believe how many baby bluetits we have this year.

Never seen so many. Im actually surprised how many birds still around. Usually we get a lull at this time of year as they go off foraging. Havent seen goldfinch in ages but I know come winter they will be back in their droves!

Half-cocked · 23-08-2020 11:40am

Just had a Sparrowhawk grab a House Sparrow right in front of me, not 2 metres away. As it lifted away, a 2nd Sparrowhawk swooped in and seemed to try and grab the Sparrow out of the 1st Hawks talons. Possibly a breeding pair and the female wanting to take the food for the chicks?

Tiercel Dave · 23-08-2020 12:35pm

Half-cocked wrote: »

...... Possibly a breeding pair and the female wanting to take the food for the chicks?

There is a very marked difference in size of the sexes so it would be easy to tell if it was a male and a female. Youngsters are still being fed at this stage so I'd guess it was a hungry eyass. Part of their 'life training' is to snatch food from the parents mid-flight in an effort to hone their hunting skills.....

Half-cocked · 23-08-2020 12:54pm

Tiercel Dave wrote: »

There is a very marked difference in size of the sexes so it would be easy to tell if it was a male and a female. Youngsters are still being fed at this stage so I'd guess it was a hungry eyass. Part of their 'life training' is to snatch food from the parents mid-flight in an effort to hone their hunting skills.....

It all happened too quickly to spot size difference. We have a breeding pair in the area and both adults visit the garden regularly.

monkeynuz · 23-08-2020 7:06pm

I'll never forget seeing a peregrine falcon take a pigeon on the wing about 10 feet ahead of and above me, it was amazing to watch, my self and a friend were just walking along a country lane.

27-08-2020 3:18pm

My OH was outside earlier and he said he thought something might have gotten one of the swallows as there looked to be feathers on the ground inside the shed. (We don't know if they're house martins or swallows but we just call them swallows.)
As I stepped into the shed, what looked to me like a sparrowhawk swooped down from the rafters (it was very fast and I didn't have my glasses on so it could have been anything, but we've seen a sparrowhawk in the garden once before so maybe?). I'm not sure if it got one of the adults or if it managed to get at the nest. After all our minding: keeping the shed door open for them, closing it during the storms, and making sure the indoor cat didn't step foot inside the shed when he was out for his rambles, we had also been keeping an eye out for the fledglings so that we would keep the cat inside.
It is possible the babies had already left the nest but we're a bit doubtful. I can see two swallows flying high above the house, they haven't gone near the shed since the discovery.
I know it's completely natural, but I do feel a bit sad. I'm going to check the cctv later and see if it shows what type of bird went in and did the damage.

27-08-2020 6:14pm

I went back out to clean up, and was surprised to find the sparrowhawk up in the rafters again. I got a good look this time as it crashed into the window, and can say for sure it's a sparrowhawk. I closed the doors to the shed. I don't know if I should open them later, will the swallows come back? They seem to be still flying high above the house.

The Hide (chat thread)

Comments