View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Old 03-08-2006, 12:15 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Sacha[_1_] Sacha[_1_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,092
Default wood pidgeon life span

On 3/8/06 10:58, in article ,
"DB01" wrote:


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"DB01" wrote in message
...

We started feeding birds last year, mainly sparrows, blue tits, robins
etc. This year a pair of wood pidgeons have built a nest in one tree.
Should we encourage the pidgeons or will they drive all the small birds
away


No, they're vegetarians. We have several varieties of small birds as well
as collar doves and wood pigeons nesting in out tree - the only suitable
one for some distance. The only birds we discourage are magpies, I've seen
them take fledgling collar doves.

Wood pigeons are beautiful creatures and they feel happily on the ground
with our bantams, sparrows, dunnocks, robins and blackbirds. The tits
don't feed from the ground but they're safe from pigeons of all kinds too.

It's difficult to discourage them in any case :-)

Mary


Many thanx Mary
you have put our minds at rest
How do you discourage the magpies? We do get a couple trying to enter the
ivy covered poplar that all the small birds live

They're a pest and a pain, handsome though they are. The old country people
used to inject an egg with poison and put it into nests the magpies were
plundering - or shoot them, I'm afraid.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)