This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?

John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'

On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:18:33 +0100, John wrote:

This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Better than pigeons - we had one hit one of the barn windows a few months
ago, except it was big and heavy enough that the pigeon won and the
window didn't. I really don't like cutting new bits of glass :-)

On 4 Jun 2009 16:14:08 GMT, Huge wrote:
On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'

No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

Plus cats already have a bad name for crapping all over other people's
gardens.

pete wrote:
On 4 Jun 2009 16:14:08 GMT, Huge wrote:
On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'
No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

Plus cats already have a bad name for crapping all over other people's
gardens.

Quite put me off urban gardens. In London, as one of the few left with a
lawn, my garden was the neighbourhood cat toilet. When I moved a small
paved garden was a major attraction.

Rob

Rob wrote:
pete wrote:
On 4 Jun 2009 16:14:08 GMT, Huge wrote:
On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into
our back windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they
see. All have been the same type (Finch with a yellow area near
their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?

The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a
bad name for 'killing the birds'
No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

Plus cats already have a bad name for crapping all over other people's
gardens.

Quite put me off urban gardens. In London, as one of the few left with a
lawn, my garden was the neighbourhood cat toilet. When I moved a small
paved garden was a major attraction.

Rob

Recently had that problem - applied a liberal dose of supposedly well
rotted horse manure - no cats have yet been back. Only a few weeks so far...

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

"Jules" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:18:33 +0100, John wrote:

This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our
back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Better than pigeons - we had one hit one of the barn windows a few months
ago, except it was big and heavy enough that the pigeon won and the
window didn't. I really don't like cutting new bits of glass :-)

Fit proper glass then.

In uk.d-i-y, John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Are you sure they died? We have quite a lot of bird strikes, and a
surprising number of times, the stunned bird recovers and flies off
before anything gets it.

--
Mike Barnes

Huge wrote:
On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'

No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

Because of just such incidents. Every time someone sees a cat carying a
bird, it gets flagged up as a cat kill.

In reality they rarely catch them


They certainly are NOT around here.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:59:02 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Because of just such incidents. Every time someone sees a cat carying a
bird, it gets flagged up as a cat kill.

Any decent self respecting cat doesn't take carrion ours certainly doesn't
anything she brings to the table is either not quite dead yet or very
fresh. What a townie cat that hasn't be taught how to hunt by it's mother
does is another matter...

In reality they rarely catch them

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2 baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and countless
voles.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 4 Jun 2009 16:14:08 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'

No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

"No evidence"

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/garden...rddeclines.asp

Andy C

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.net...
On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:59:02 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Because of just such incidents. Every time someone sees a cat carying a
bird, it gets flagged up as a cat kill.

Any decent self respecting cat doesn't take carrion ours certainly doesn't
anything she brings to the table is either not quite dead yet or very
fresh. What a townie cat that hasn't be taught how to hunt by it's mother
does is another matter...

In reality they rarely catch them

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2 baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and countless
voles.

Some of which are protected species.
Shoot the cat, they are just vermin.

On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, "dennis@home"
wrote:

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2 baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and countless
voles.

Some of which are protected species.
Shoot the cat, they are just vermin.

I'm no cat lover, but that's just rubbish. We have simply sanitised nature down
to a level where humans aren't inconvenienced in any way, so we've settled on
cats rather than lions and tigers or are they vermin too ? In reality, you're
just being sizeist for your own personal convenience. Nature's cruel - get over
it.

"Andy Cap" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, "dennis@home"

wrote:

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2 baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and countless
voles.

Some of which are protected species.
Shoot the cat, they are just vermin.

I'm no cat lover, but that's just rubbish. We have simply sanitised nature
down
to a level where humans aren't inconvenienced in any way, so we've settled
on
cats rather than lions and tigers or are they vermin too ? In reality,
you're
just being sizeist for your own personal convenience. Nature's cruel - get
over
it.

Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

dennis@home wrote:


"Andy Cap" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, "dennis@home"

wrote:

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2
baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless
voles.

Some of which are protected species.
Shoot the cat, they are just vermin.

I'm no cat lover, but that's just rubbish. We have simply sanitised
nature down
to a level where humans aren't inconvenienced in any way, so we've
settled on
cats rather than lions and tigers or are they vermin too ? In
reality, you're
just being sizeist for your own personal convenience. Nature's cruel -
get over
it.

Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

I feel like shooting children myself, mostly.

But I never do it.

Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

Were you bullied as a child ?

"Franko" wrote in message
...


Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

Were you bullied as a child ?

Dennis was never a child. He was born old.

Adam

"Owain" wrote in message
o.uk...
Huge wrote:
The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'
No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway
from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are unlikely to
have a major impact on populations. If their predation was additional to
these other causes of mortality, this might have a serious impact on bird
populations.

Those bird species that have undergone the most serious population
declines in the UK (such as skylarks, tree sparrows and corn buntings)
rarely encounter cats, so cats cannot be causing their declines. Research
shows that these declines are usually caused by habitat change or loss,
particularly on farmland.

Populations of species that are most abundant in gardens tend to be
increasing, despite the presence of cats. Blue tits, for example, the
second most frequently caught birds, have increased by over a quarter
across the UK since 1966.

All from:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/garden...rddeclines.asp

Owain

You connot even blame the Magpie

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/bird..._songbirds.asp

Adam

In article ,
Huge writes:
On 2009-06-04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?


The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'

No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

My home office desk looks out onto the lawn and bird table.
There are also lots of cats -- several neighbours have them,
and I quite like them too (had one of my own as a child).

The cats never get near the small birds -- they're far too
fast and agile. They do get the occasional pigeon because
being much bigger, they are not as fast and agile at making
an escape. The garden currently looks a bit like a pollowcase
exploded, which was next door's cat pouncing on a pigeon.
Remarkably, the pigeon did actually manage to escape, which
I would never have imagined had I not seen it do so, and
only seen the quantity of feathers left behind afterwards.

Amusingly, this morning there are a couple of green tits
collecting up the more downy pigeon feathers from the lawn.
Someone's building a very comfy nest somewhere.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, dennis@home wrote:


Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2
baby rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless voles.

Some of which are protected species.

Which of my list have specific protection? Rather than the blanket
protection of wild animals that only applies to humans harming them
anyway...

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, dennis@home wrote:


Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2
baby rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless voles.
Some of which are protected species.

Which of my list have specific protection? Rather than the blanket
protection of wild animals that only applies to humans harming them
anyway...

The only small furry mammal that has any status of protection that I can
recall is the dormouse. And POSSIBLY the water-vole.

But unless you live in a very specialised habitat, you wont find any of
either.

Stoats weasels and polecats are far worse predators on small mammals.
They dont get a tin of felix a day ;-)

On Jun 4, 7:58*pm, Owain wrote:
Huge wrote:
The cats will be along to pick up the carrion and get themselves a bad
name for 'killing the birds'
No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died
anyway from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are
unlikely to have a major impact on populations. If their predation was
additional to these other causes of mortality, this might have a serious
impact on bird populations.

Those bird species that have undergone the most serious population
declines in the UK (such as skylarks, tree sparrows and corn buntings)
rarely encounter cats, so cats cannot be causing their declines.
Research shows that these declines are usually caused by habitat change
or loss, particularly on farmland.

Populations of species that are most abundant in gardens tend to be
increasing, despite the presence of cats. Blue tits, for example, the
second most frequently caught birds, have increased by over a quarter
across the UK since 1966.

All from:http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/garden...s/cats/birddec...

Owain

Let's not let facts get in the way of prejudice, eh.

MBQ

// Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over
it.

I feel like shooting children myself, mostly.//

W.C. Fields said "anyone who hates kids
can't be all bad."

Personally, it's ****ehawks with which I have problems.

Jon.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:35:39 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:
In reality they rarely catch them

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years.

I've never seen two of ours catch anything - the other one gets maybe four
or five birds a year.

Just the other day a very brightly-coloured* bird came flying around the
side of the house at head-height, closely followed by the cat; the bird
then just dropped to the ground dead - no sign of any damage, so I don't
know if the cat had got to it somehow, or if it was just sick/dying anyway
and the chase finished it off.

* http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/...ee95651b35.jpg I believe...

cheers

Jules

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:12:31 -0500, Jules
wrote:


Just the other day a very brightly-coloured* bird came flying around the
side of the house at head-height, closely followed by the cat; the bird
then just dropped to the ground dead - no sign of any damage, so I don't
know if the cat had got to it somehow, or if it was just sick/dying anyway
and the chase finished it off.

It's the way nature work, survival of the fittest and all that, but sad people
like Dennis, who were brought up on furry tweddy bwears and bwunny wabbits can't
deal with real life... You're not making life any easier for him, with horror
stories like that ! ;-)

Andy C

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
dennis@home wrote:


"Andy Cap" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, "dennis@home"

wrote:

Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises
2 baby
rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless
voles.

Some of which are protected species.
Shoot the cat, they are just vermin.

I'm no cat lover, but that's just rubbish. We have simply sanitised
nature down
to a level where humans aren't inconvenienced in any way, so we've
settled on
cats rather than lions and tigers or are they vermin too ? In
reality, you're
just being sizeist for your own personal convenience. Nature's
cruel - get over
it.

Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

I feel like shooting children myself, mostly.

But I never do it.

I feel like shooting Dennis myself, mostly.

But I don't know where he lives.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, dennis@home wrote:


Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2
baby rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless voles.

Some of which are protected species.

Which of my list have specific protection? Rather than the blanket
protection of wild animals that only applies to humans harming them
anyway...

No point asking Dennis to clarify some he's just made up Dave.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Andy Cap wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:12:31 -0500, Jules
wrote:


Just the other day a very brightly-coloured* bird came flying around the
side of the house at head-height, closely followed by the cat; the bird
then just dropped to the ground dead - no sign of any damage, so I don't
know if the cat had got to it somehow, or if it was just sick/dying anyway
and the chase finished it off.

It's the way nature work, survival of the fittest and all that, but sad people
like Dennis, who were brought up on furry tweddy bwears and bwunny wabbits can't
deal with real life... You're not making life any easier for him, with horror
stories like that ! ;-)

Andy C

I found a young healthy looking pigeon in the woods once. No blood, no
trauma or sign of being attacked. Just dead.

Wasn't someone badly injured by an overflying duck in a London park that
just dropped down stone dead?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember The Natural Philosopher
saying something like:

Its perfectly natural for some of to want to shoot cats, get over it.

I feel like shooting children myself, mostly.

But I never do it.

Too late anyway. Dunblane is so last century.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Cap
saying something like:

No need. It's already well known that domestic cats are the principal
cause of songbird death in the UK.

"No evidence"

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/garden...rddeclines.asp

Good Heavens!
Huge can't be spouting ****e again, can he?
How on Earth does he manage it? It's a talent, I'm sure.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:01:11 +0100, Andy Cap wrote:
You're not making life any easier for him, with horror
stories like that ! ;-)

Shame I didn't keep the deer leg that I found on the back lawn last year
then, just so I could wave it at him. (Never did find the rest of the
deer that it once belonged to!)

Then there was the deer which got hit by a car right out front, and which
ended up on the front lawn - the game warden came out and shot it. Life
can be harsh at times.

(OTOH, we saw a groundhog bounding across the back lawn last weekend, and
I rescued a hummingbird from the workshop a couple of days ago after it
flew in and couldn't work out how to get out again. Bald eagles are
ten-a-penny around here, and the wife had to stop the car the other day so
that a wolf could wander across the road in front of her.)

cheers

Jules

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:12:31 -0500, Jules wrote:
Just the other day a very brightly-coloured* bird came flying around the
side of the house at head-height, closely followed by the cat;

Hells bells - that's something I'd like to have seen. Did you get any
photos of your flying cat?

Round here the Red Kites get the carrion - you seriously wouldn't want
one of those flying into your patio windows.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
om...
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, dennis@home wrote:


Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises 2
baby rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews and
countless voles.

Some of which are protected species.

Which of my list have specific protection? Rather than the blanket
protection of wild animals that only applies to humans harming them
anyway...

No point asking Dennis to clarify some he's just made up Dave.

Still trying to prove you are an idiot I see.
Don't bother you have convinced me already.

Someone else has already pointed out that voles and door mice are protected
so you are wrong again!

You should change your name to the always wrong handyman.

John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our back
windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All have been
the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?




As to the first part: if you want to reduce/stop it put silhouettes of
hawks on the affected windows.

As to the second: no idea.


Richard

Richard Savage wrote:
John wrote:
This year I have had several birds kill themselves by flying into our
back windows - I suppose it is a reflection of the sky they see. All
have been the same type (Finch with a yellow area near their tail)

Why is this year the only time in 20 at the same house that I have
encountered this? Lazy cats?



As to the first part: if you want to reduce/stop it put silhouettes of
hawks on the affected windows.

As to the second: no idea.


Richard

A surfeit of Tits.

Ezpecially at No 10..

dennis@home wrote:



Someone else has already pointed out that voles and door mice are
protected so you are wrong again!


Are voles a special sort of water vole, then? And are "door mice"
another sort of mouse?

I didn't know that.

We had a greater spotted woodpecker fly at our window and kill itself
last week. Daft really, they're plastic window frames. And rather sad.


--
Kevin Poole
****Use current date to reply (e.g. )****

On Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:12:11 +0100, Kevin Poole wrote:

And are "door mice" another sort of mouse?

They're the ones who throw the riff-raff out at all the trendy London
mouse clubs...

On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 20:27:39 +0100, dennis@home wrote:

Someone else has already pointed out that voles and door mice are
protected so you are wrong again!

No you are wrong. Voles, small mouse like critters, are not protected.
This is what our cat likes to cruch up on the mat.

However Water Voles, a larger rat like animal, and Dormice are protected.
Our cat has not bought in either of those.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 20:27:39 +0100, dennis@home wrote:

Someone else has already pointed out that voles and door mice are
protected so you are wrong again!

No you are wrong. Voles, small mouse like critters, are not protected.
This is what our cat likes to cruch up on the mat.

However Water Voles, a larger rat like animal, and Dormice are protected.
Our cat has not bought in either of those.

Mine used to catch a lot of water voles when I lived on the Fens.
But not half so many as the weasels.

dennis@home wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
message om...
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:13:58 +0100, dennis@home wrote:


Yep, I think ours has had one bird in 3 years. The rest comprises
2 baby rabbits, 2 moles, a few mice, then a fair number of shrews
and countless voles.

Some of which are protected species.

Which of my list have specific protection? Rather than the blanket
protection of wild animals that only applies to humans harming them
anyway...

No point asking Dennis to clarify some he's just made up Dave.

Still trying to prove you are an idiot I see.
Don't bother you have convinced me already.

Someone else has already pointed out that voles and door mice are
protected so you are wrong again!

You should change your name to the always wrong handyman.

Here you go again Dennipoos. You come up with a load of old bollox in an
attempt to make yourself look clever, someone pulls you on it and you become
abusive.

Dave mentioned; baby rabbits, moles, mice, shrews and voles. Not doormice
or water voles.

Which of these are protected then? Fluffy bunnies?

****wit.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk