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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ChrisKten" data-source="post: 1420284" data-attributes="member: 69033">Thanks for all your comments. I won't respond to each post, rather I'll give a bit more information that may answer some queries.It may surprise you to know that my garden is only about 20 feet square, and that I live on a council estate in London. I have 2 trees and a shed. There is a metal pole that used to support a rotary washing line that I left as the Jays like to perch on it, well, bounce of it would be more accurate. I have 2 Bird Baths, and in the trees I have various feeders, some bought, some made by me (small trays made from CD spindle cases). I've posted a picture of my garden below. Although I'm sure it must look messy and disorganised, everything serves a purpose:The wire fence sections propped against the back wall are used by Starlings and Squirrels to hide behind. The Starlings know they are vulnerable after a bath so they sometimes dry out behind there. Fledgling Starlings and Blackbirds also dart behind the wire when they feel threatened. The Squirrels eat behind the wire, and hide from other squirrels.The section of old wood leaning against the wall serves a number of purposes. The Squirrels use it to climb up and down from the waste ground that is at the back of my garden. It's also used by fledgling Starlings and Blackbirds to hide behind, and the occasional sick Pigeon. I have no grass, it all died from being trampled by the 30+ Pigeons, dug up by 6+ Squirrels, and from myself walking on it to fill bird baths and feeders when it was muddy. The mud (which is all it is really) is taken throughout the year by Magpies and Blackbirds, either for repairs, or nest building (which the Magpies are doing as I type). Blackbirds have an easy time finding worms as the worms are in plain sight when breeding.So it's a mess, but it all seems to work. I have been tempted to tidy the garden and lay turf, but I'm frightened to change anything.The garden is regularly filled with Birds and Squirrels. The regular crowd are as follows:10+ Sparrows20+ Starlings8+ Collard Doves3 Crows5 Jays3 Magpies1 Goldcrest2 Chaffinches1 Robin1 Dunnock (not seen for ages)2 Wood Pigeons30+ PigeonsBlue Tits (numbers vary, not more than 3)Great Tits (numbers vary, not more than 5)2 Blackbirds1 male Sparrowhawk1 female Sparrowhawk (could be 2 and a juvenile)All the above numbers change at times, so I might post different numbers at other times; it's a pretty good representation of what I see each day. I've also posted a picture of the feeder arrangement below, so I hope you get an idea of what the Sparrowhawks are faced with.This post is a bit long, I'll post a bit more detail about where the prey is taken from later (things to do first IRL).</blockquote>

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