Comments on: WAYS TO STOP SPARROWHAWK ATTACKS IN GARDENS

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:02:22 +0000

7.30am this morning screeching out side my backdoor and there is a sparrow hawl with a male blackbird, seconds earlier I think I could have saved the little might. I know that they have to eat and feed their young but when you have looked after these birds through the winter, it heartbreaking to lose one….this is the first time I have seen one in the garden, now I assume it will not be the last!

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:15:51 +0000

I have to admit … I detest sparrowhawks! The way they eat the poor prey while it is still alive, I see no beauty in these birds and I adore all nature! Humans are to blame for the huge increase in numbers, of course, but it is getting out of hand. They do not need to be on any ‘endangered’ lists as they are abundant everywhere these days … unlike songbirds. The population of songbirds around the area where we live, like most places in the U.K, has declined rapidly, yet the numbers of sparrowhawks is on the increase, we see/hear them daily. The ‘intelligent’ way of thinking, according to the rspb etc, is that prey/predator numbers are in synchronicity, and that as prey drops, so do the numbers of predators … except for the fact, with these particular raptors in our area, they have a fondness for rodents too. Many times I have watched them in the hedge, waiting, and there are so few birds now, that they very lazily catch mice and rats instead, carrying them to a nearby fence to eat. While some may think this is good news, the problem here is the SH will adapt its diet accordingly … so, when there are no longer any songbirds, the sparrowhawks will be fine, they will eat rodents instead! It will be too late for our songbirds, and those who seemingly feel the need to still protect SH will eventually see sense, but it will be way too late, as usual … It is incredibly sad. There needs to be a mass cull of sparrowhawks, or a reduction by removing some eggs (I realise Magpies and crows take young birds, but they do not prey on breeding adults) I have witnessed several breeding birds taken by them, Blackcaps, Blackbirds, Blue tits, Sparrows. The list goes on. As well as the daily onslaught at birds who used our feeders over the years. I moved the feeding zones regularly, but still was providing a daily smorgasbord for these raptors. I rarely feed songbirds now, as there are so few anyway. Yet, I still see/hear the SH every day in neighbours’ gardens, mainly eating rodents!

By: morag

morag — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:58:47 +0000

thanks Trish, we did manoeuvre it about a bit and it seems to be perfect now.

By: morag

morag — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:56:58 +0000

My hawk has given up and gone for easier prey elsewhere.My husband surrounded the tall feeder with chicken wire in a circle.The small birds can get through the holes and eat in peace while the blackbirds etc go underneath or in from the top as it is wide enough. Now the hawk can`t get them unaware and they have a fighting chance while flying to and fro instead of being picked off the fat balls! Actually the hawk hasn`t been seen for a couple of weeks.success and thanks to my husband.

By: Trish

Trish — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:08:30 +0000

Hello Morag

You could close the top of the wire cage off a little – make the opening smaller.

You could use a ground caged bird feeder and put the food inside there.

It’s really difficult, because the garden birds could get picked off when they are flying towards the feeders.

I know someone who bought a large balloon and put it in the garden (it was especially for frightening off sparrowhawks). I will put a picture on Bird Table News for you (next week)

I don’t know if you’ve read all the other comments but Grahame said that this will always happen until there is more legislation (he means to control the sparrowhawk population)

PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT A WEBSITE CALLED

SONGBIRD SURVIVAL

THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR GARDEN BIRDS
Also, one reader said if you put canes zigazzing in the garden it stops the hawk’s line of flight – but I’ve never tried that.

By: morag

morag — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:59:12 +0000

I live on a large country estate and have a large population of tits visiting my feeders.After 38 years here I now have a predatory hawk picking them off.Yesterday the cock pheasant who comes in the late afternoon to collect the spillage off the ground reared up at the hawk and scared it away.I have surrounded my feeder with a wire cage open at the top but saw the hawk swerving out of the top.not sure whether it went in or changed its mind half way. I am determined to protect my tits,finches blackbirds and robins, however woodpeckers have been known to drill into great tit nests and kill the babies. this behaviour can decimate the great tit populations too. we are in a no win situation and as humans we should be able to outwit the hawks without deciding life and death for species.It is too much meddling that has upset the balance of nature in the first place. Yours, sitting on the fence!

By: Sally

Sally — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:22:12 +0000

I heard a big bang on my glass front door and yet nothing was there. I ran upstairs, thinking maybe my cat had fallen out the window. He was standing on hind legs looking down at the quiet road and there I saw a bird, not much bigger than a pigeon, wings outstretched guarding the collared dove. I stayed inside, and realized it was a bird of prey..anyway, I went to get camera-never seen anything like this before-and she had gone when I came back, moments later-I looked out the window and he was flying down the road with the bird. I have worked out she is a sparrowhawk, and brown speckled so female? This is in the centre of town. We have a lot of collared doves, and they nest each spring behind my satellite dish. Am wondering now how long this sparrowhawk has been around. I live in the centre of town, so was flabbergasted!

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:37:25 +0000

What can I do to attract crows to the garden? This year (unlike previous years) I’ve had regular visits from several jackdaws who eat the seed from the woodpigeon’s/collared dove’s feeding station; but I haven’t seen any crows yet.

By: Lainey Lou Lou

Lainey Lou Lou — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:19:09 +0000

Hi everyone,

I’ve just moved into a new house (in Leyland, Lancs) with a large overgrown garden and have been really happy to see a good range of birds feeding including wood pigeons, blackbirds, thrushes, blue tits and even a nut hatch. A rabbit comes and feeds in the garden most days, a joy to watch from the kitchen window. I’ve been observing with interest a baby wood pigeon learning to fly over the last few days and was shocked to see a hawk (I’m guessing it was a sparrowhawk, or possibly a kestrel) come down and sit in the garden while the adult wood pigeon had a go at it. It was only when the sparrowhawk flew off that I could see it had something in it’s talons – it looked like a blackbird, but would the wood pigeon have attacked it if it was a blackbird? I’m guessing it was trying to protect it’s baby. Oh, how awful!! The previous owner had loads of thorny bushes everywhere which we’ve cut down due to having a one year old son who’ll be grubbing about everywhere soon no doubt, and we just thought the old guy must have been a security freak, but maybe he was defending the place against sparrowhawks….

By: graham

graham — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:30:17 +0000

There is excessive numbers of birds of prey now,in most areas of the British isles.Braught about by a conservation act in the early eighties,Unfotunatly Sparrow hawks are the biggest condenders,with excessive numbers of breeding pairs.Many town and urban gardens have been desimated of our common birds.I understand there is a growing interest in dropping the protection status on this group of birds of prey…DEFRA ,08459 33 55 77.