As the owner of three cats I feel it's my duty to give something back to the wildlife that they very occasionally kill. So this year I've decided to try a huge bird feeding campaign in my garden. A new bird table, 2 feeding stations, several feeders and about 1 tonne of food. This has worked wonders. I have loads of birds feeding in my garden unfortunately most of them are Starlings who leave bugger all for the rest of the birds. It's gotten so bad I'm teaching my cats enemy recognition so that they only go for Starlings. Unfortunately the bastards are so well fed that they have the energy to play "chicken" with my cats and leave until the last second before they give a sudden burst of energy to get out the way. I even think that some of them are starting to tease my cats. Bastards!!!!!
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Starlings are also a problem for us. We put a new bird feeding station in the back garden, and while we have seen a couple of Robins and a Blackbird feeding most are Starlings. Not sure how it is possible to deter them from hovering up all the food either.

One strange thing we can't work out is that none of the birds are touching the peanet or wid bird seed feeders. These remain completely full, while the fat balls and wild bird cake gets eaten. Any ideas? Could it be the location within the garden?
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At the moment nothing is touching peanuts and It depends on the type of feeder as to how much bird seed goes (make sure you get the wheat free bird seed or else you'll have a field of wheat growing like I do). I make a mixture of suet, dried meal worms and bird seed and put that in feeders and it goes much quicker than birdseed on it's own. I think this is because fat balls, wild bird cake, suet etc. are high energy foods (The McD's of the bird world) but if you make a mix then you make sure that you are feeding the birds a balanced diet and attracting different kinds of birds as well (I get Robins, Sparrows, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Yellow Crests (although less of them since one of my cats caught one), Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits with my mix). If you're lucky you may even get the odd Sparrow Hawk as well (not so lucky for the birds but rough and smooth). The other thing is have bird seed on a flat surface as most seed and berry eaters would get the food off the ground so they prefer to feed on flat surfaces (It's amazing what you find out on the net when you want to get rid of Starlings). Also sometimes it's better to have the food or feeding stations out in the open so that the birds feel safer as they have a better view of the surrounding area and can keep an eye out for predators.

If I was a foot shorter and 30 years older I'd be Bill Oddie.
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We do also have a bird table and do put sun flower seeds on there and they do go, but I've not seen what has been eating those. And the feeding station is out in the open away from any big trees or shrubs so I don't think that is the issue. Maybe it is too close to the house and needs to be moved further down the garden? Only issue then is we won't be able to easily see what's at the table from the sofa! Time to buy some binoculars!
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To close to the house won't be a problem as we've got a feeding station and a bird table about 10 foot from our house and that's getting some regular visits from Tits.
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Great thread - I laughed reading Buleste's opening post. Good stuff!

Starlings are a pain because they go around in huge mob numbers like locusts. They're also quite aggressive for their size. However, apparently they are considered endangered as their numbers have dropped by half in the last 25 years. Since they are a flock bird, they have many eyes all searching for danger, so your Cat is in for a hard time catching them!

I find it difficult to believe they are considered endangered, as in my area I see far more of these birds than any other and they look to be doing quite well.

Many people share your opinion on Starlings due to their nature, although I hear they're loved in America.
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Did you know?

The Starling population in America started with 80 birds brought over from England by someone who thought that it would be nice to have the same wildlife as in his native land?(This is true)

Americans who like Starlings are called morons because they are more like vermin than any pigeon (Starlings not Americans who like Starlings)? (This is meant as a humorous comment not an insult)

Any Starling that comes into my garden will be considered endangered if they don't stop eating all the bloody food I put out? (Again humorous comment. I'm not going to go out and start killing Starlings.)
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Although I have starlings in my garden, the main greedy guts are a couple of collared doves. They just sit on the bird table stuffing themselves for ages.
I do also have blackbirds, robins, sparrows, wren and other common birds so it is not a total disaster.
However, if any cats are seen by me, they had better run for their lives, as I am quite handy chucking a half brick or similar sized missile at the filthy vermin.
To me, cat owners are either stupid or inconsiderate. Stupid because they do not realise their cat will always shit on other peoples property, go caterwauling and slaughter the local wildlife indiscriminately and needlessly, or inconsiderate because they do not care.
Either way, a cat owner makes a lousy neighbour!
Regards,
Mike.
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I'm neither stupid nor inconsiderate so don't include me in your sweeping generalisations. Next time leave such views to yourself.
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BTW domesticated animals cannot be classed as vermin. The OED definition of vermin is:-

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