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Standing up to the starlings (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter helenol
- Start date
As a long-standing member of the SAS (Starling Appreciation Society) I've read these threads with interest as those who take to starlings seem quite ready to say why, but those against don't seem to be precise as to what it is that they don't like about them. For me, as some of the posts say, they are an absolute delight to have in the garden, arriving, as they do, suddenly in flocks of 15-40, staying for around 10-15 minutes and then leaving as quickly as they came. Why do I like them? - well as the 'for' posts say, they are so cheerfully comic, whether feeding, bathing, or sitting in the trees going through their amazing repertoire of clicks, whistles, and imitations. They say that laughter is good for you, and I just can't help having a broad smile on my face for the time they are there; whereas much as like all the other avian vistors they don't make me laugh like starlings do. And mostly they seem to get on well with the other garden birds, particularly the sparrows who often seem to wait for their arrival and then follow them on to the feeders.
I do think some of the points made about their decline in some areas are good ones. I've also seen them in large numbers at Marshside, and the wet pasture there is very much a disappearing feature from our countryside.
Could some of the 'anti's' say what it is they don't like about them in the garden?
Alan Hill
I do think some of the points made about their decline in some areas are good ones. I've also seen them in large numbers at Marshside, and the wet pasture there is very much a disappearing feature from our countryside.
Could some of the 'anti's' say what it is they don't like about them in the garden?
Alan Hill
songbird6666
Registered User
Mine are back in their multitudes. From one to seven last week, there were over thirty here today.
songbird6666
Registered User
You think? I am never sure whether they are localish but never competely certain. They always disappear around March and come back October/November, so would they migrate to Scandinavia to breed?
Songbird, according to The Migration Atlas the starlings that winter in Britain have their breeding grounds throughout northern Europe: the Netherlands, Scandinavia and the Baltic states, Germany, Poland, Finland, and Russia (even as far as Lake Baikal). “The main period of autumn migration into Britain and Ireland is October-November. However birds from different breeding populations in Europe migrate at different times and use different routes.” They leave for their breeding grounds in March and April.
Alan Hill
Alan Hill
ClariseStarling
Member
I dont mind Starlings so much, they are quite funny when they squabble over the feeder and they seem to leave the smaller birds alone on the other feeder. The problem here is Magpies, we scare them off all the time but when we are scaring them off we are also scaring the other birds off too :C
I find the only way to deter magpies, pigeons and squirrels is to have a feeding set-up which will allow birds up to starling/blackbird size to take the food, but which will prevent anything bigger. For me the answer is to have the usual cylindrical type of feeder (which I have on a narrow vaseline-greased pole to stop the squirrels) plus a ground feeding station which is protected by a mesh which only lets the smaller birds through (available from RSPB). But I would have thought that any feeding set-up which prevented squirrels taking the food would also prevent magpies and pigeons.
Alan Hill
Alan Hill
