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[Eddie]

Just re-filled my coconut shells for the birds, there are six of them along the fence, but two thrushes are fighting over one mealworm. Eddie. x

[CLKD]

I saw birds on the niger feeders earlier and my neighbour has lots of blue-tits in his garden this morning 

[Eddie]

Just counted 25+ thrushes squabbling over them, this isn't what i wanted, i used to get smaller birds, and lots of them, how can i share the feeders out evenly? Eddie. x

[CLKD]

Thrushes or starlings?   Spreading the feeders throughout the garden might help but starlings let each other know, when I go out the bird on the TV aerial whistles and his 'mates' soon join him 

[Bette]

You'd be very lucky if they were thrushes, Eddie, bet they're starlings.
Bixby x

[Eddie]

Where did i get thrushes from Duh, of course they're starlings.      Eddie. x

[Bette]

Wishful thinking probably!  I like all birds but thrushes are pretty special - their singing is just wonderful. 
I have seen flocks of Redwings occasionally but never thrushes.
Bixby x

[ariadne]

Colleague at work has a dilemma. For a couple of years she has had a tiny mouse in her greenhouse which has grown braver and braver. It eats the fat balls she keeps for the birds. So she leaves one out for it. Its not an ordinary mouse as she says its very tiny.

Then there were 2 mice, brave enough to stand their ground when she went into the greenhouse.

Now there are 3 babies as well. What can she do? She can't bear to kill them or deprive them of the food they've become used to but if she doesn't do something, the greenhouse will be overun soon.

She thought about ringing the RSPCA but quite honestly, what could they do?

What do you ladies think? I told her to buy another greenhouse and leave them in the other one 

[Taz2]

Whoops - this happened to me and my garage mice. For a few years I deceived my husband into thinking they had gone (they were feeding on the sack of birdseed I kept in there) by putting down six peanuts each night and then getting up before him, going into the garage and replacing the nuts the mice had eaten in the night    Eventually, of course, the mice found there way up through the garage ceiling (through the little holes around the pipes) and ran riot in between the floors. They sounded like a herd of elephants and in the night their chomping sounded just like a huge rat was trying to eat its way through the bedroom ceiling. I had to confess  to my nut replacement and I'm afraid the traps went up into the loft where they had finally managed to find there way to. Nobody told me though - but there were furtive nods and winks between my husband and my son each time my son heard a trap go off in the loft. I removed the birdseed from the garage and as far as I can tell we have no more mice.

Your friend wont get rid of the mice if she continues to feed them. It is tough stopping feeding them this time of year with the cold winter weather coming along soon. Mice are not an RSPCA problem I'm afraid. If they are really tiny they could be shrews - do they have long noses?

Am still thinking of a solution. Is the greenhouse quite a way from the house? If she has had a mouse in her greenhouse for two years it is strange that there are only three - there should be 3000 by now!

Taz x

[ariadne]

Taz, I suggested shrews but she said they don't have long noses and are smaller than that. Dormice?

Yes, they must be practising safe sex!

Oh dear, she won't want to use traps or stop feeding them. She gave them a Xmas treat last year!

I wondered if she could trap them and release them in a field somewhere but she thought they would return.

[CLKD]

There is one type of mouse that is protected in the UK so ring your local Nature Group - most Counties have knowledgeable people with specific interests.  However mice breed and breed and ...... however cute!  A cat is the best way [or a chicken  ].

[Taz2]

Maybe it's a woodmouse http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th1g.htm   It wouldn't be a dormouse - they tend to spend their time in trees rather than on the ground and are rare. http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th1k.htm   In our local Pamber Forest we have Dormice boxes nailed to the trees and they are having a lot of success in getting them to breed. I still haven't seen one though.

Taz x

[CLKD]

If rodents are released another will move into the 'gap'; same with foxes, badgers; gap seen moved into.  Did you contact the local Wildlife Group?  Photos?

[Taz2]

Not if you close the gap up CLKD and stop feeding suet balls 

Taz x

[CLKD]

It is virtually impossible to close the gap against rodents.  Even if you think they have gone      they have ways of moving back in ......

Saw our wren today bathing in our pond, the first time for months!