Bird nests

[Stubby]

2 minutes ago, Stewart Johnson said:

Don't get me started on cats....  but then the average moggy isn't destroying entire clutches which is what will happen if your trash a nest. There is a reason why each blue tit pair produce around a dozen chicks a year...

A pair of crows will do more harm than cats ...

[felixthelogchopper]

19 minutes ago, Stubby said:

A pair of crows will do more harm than cats ...

So can Grey Squirrels or Woodpeckers.

[Stewart Johnson]

Certainly they can be destructive but there is a specific issue with cats. 

Cats per se aren't an issue - the U.K. should have a native wild cat after all but it's been exterminated from all but the Highlands and a domestic cat fulfills the same function in the environment.

But the issue is with numbers. The number of crows about is determined by the amount of food available for them. This isn't true of cats because they are fed by their owners.

So the average suburban street has vastly more predators than would occur naturally, and that unnatural situation can be appalling for wildlife.

[benedmonds]

I bet the cost benefit of protecting nests from tree works compared to controlling squirrels, crows or cats  has never been done..

 

I have spent a few nice afternoons on building sites being paid to bird watch.. many jobs get postponed or rushed to be done before "nesting season" and I can't imagine the netting they do on hedges to stop birds is cheap.. or works for that matter...

 

If we used the cash spent on protecting nests of common birds for controlling grey squirrel populations I bet we would get far greater outcome.  Obviously rare birds need to be protected, but do pigeons?  

 

[Stubby]

Have you watched a pair of crows working a hedge row  . Worse than a fox I recon .

[Gary Prentice]

10 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Have you watched a pair of crows working a hedge row  . Worse than a fox I recon .

Our foxes only seem to eat cooked chicken. They even turn their noses up at cat food.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Gary Prentice said:

Our foxes only seem to eat cooked chicken. They even turn their noses up at cat food.

Gary ! . You should not be giving them the option of cat food bud . They are , or should be a wild animal .   ( Hope we are still mates ? ) ?

[Stewart Johnson]

Ravens are even worse.... but the point is in a natural environment there are as many predators as there is food to feed them. Yes, some nests get destroyed but enough survive.

Cats can occur in such overwhelming numbers that nothing gets overlooked.

As for cost benefit analysis... as someone who has dealings with our local red squirrel group I can say that eliminating greys takes a huge amount of effort and time. It can be done, but it took around 15 years to clear Anglesey, and then monitoring still needs to be done. 

What more contractors should do is get an ecologist in early so the work can be planned. Plenty of builders still seem to be amazed spring happens in mid-March and I always wonder why anything a bird can nest in hasn't been cleared beforehand. This is not rocket science. 

If it were, I wouldn't be able to do it...

Just about everything can be worked around given sufficient time, planning and common sense.

But I suspect we all know clients tend not to grant us the first two, nor are they well provided with the third...

 

[Gary Prentice]

Cat foods out for the stray cats, the foxes ignore it and stare through the patio doors until ‘their’ food gets put out.

 

 

[Khriss]

I have to leave the Waitrose wrapper nearby, here in Wimbledon - or they don't even sniff at it . Thankfully our lads barrier tape nesting bird trees here , but am suspiscious its a get-out  ! K