Buzzards, Crows, Magpies and Seagulls

Where we live is fairly rural. Our neighbours are cows and sheep, the closest house is a few fields away. We are very lucky as there is a lot of wildlife in the area and whilst sat looking out the window first thing this morning I was enjoying watching a Buzzard fly and swooping down in the trees hunting. It was an amazing sight and a wonderful way to start the day.

Scene from The Birds

The crows have nested fairly close to us and this means they are often flying overhead. Recently they have become quite aggressive and a few days ago swooped down attacking our cats and the chickens. The cats ran for the house (they really are wusses when it comes to birds!), but the chooks only had a bush to shelter under and kept being swooped down upon. Gary went out and chased them off and they even swooped down at him! I told Gary it reminded me of a scene from the Hitchcock film The Birds, he hadn’t seen it so soon I will have to sit him down to watch it. It is the time of year that the fledgelings are leaving the nest here it would seem and so they are in over protective mode. Hopefully they will soon calm down and we won’t need to worry about swooping from above.

Stealing Seagulls

With being fairly close to the sea we sometimes have gulls flying over and they land in the field behind us. This morning whilst out topping up the feeder I noticed the chickens were being quite nervy. I couldn’t see anything around so left them to it and thought I’d just check out of the window to see what was going on. Not long after I came in half a dozen gulls landed and tried to take the chicken feed! A big broom was grabbed and chasing off ensued. We’ve now tucked their feeder away more and have changed where we give them treats to try and stop this happening.

Cheeky Magpies

We also have two cheeky magpies who for the past few months have been playing dodge with the chickens. They sneak into the garden and scurry along hoping to get to the feeder before the chooks notice them. Star in particular spends a lot of her time chasing them off. I did debate getting a treadle feeder which helps stop other birds and pests getting at the chicken feed, but I must admit I quite enjoy watching these two attempt to get to it each day!