Omg first attck

Well I had my first hawk attack yesterday
Three townies landed on my loft and one of me ybs come down and then hawk from no where

They're sneaky little gits, you take a good look around to make sure there's none about, and they just come from nowhere when you let the birds out, surely something will be done in the next couple of years to help with this problem, or am I just wishful thinking

phil411 wrote:

Well I had my first hawk attack yesterday
Three townies landed on my loft and one of me ybs come down and then hawk from no where

Here where I am I get the odd one here & there it's made a few attempts to dive on the birds but I yell at it & it goes away so it hasn't got any birds of mine.

We've got huge numbers of sparrow Hawks here, hit the birds when they're on the loft or in the garden, can be devastating when they go through a load of young birds on the loft roof

I use mirrors angled to reflect the sun when its sunny, and my birds are out....I cant say it is 100% effective against hawks but ive not had one since using them.....I also have my air rifle at hand loaded.

deal with it phil asap it knows where you are now might be an idea to one spot yer ybs they are ambush merchants and very cunning they will always come on the birds blind side here they come up through the houses just below roof level but not had any problems for a few years.. now is the worst time until end of april then she will be on the nest the cock is not big enough to bother the pigeons ,spar hawk is easy predator , peregrine is a different ball game

around my loft are a lot of trees, and in them we have big magpie and crow nests.........they are quite a lot of them and I wonder if it helps keep hawks away...?

yes definitely besides they are a great alarm call when hen spar hawk is about I see them mobbing the spar hawk on a few occasions I like the crows around the loft

I hoped they would Darren, ive a couple of big nests right beside my lofts and more surrounding them...

I put bird under a fish tank today hoping it come back but nowt I I put mirror balls on the back of the roof

David wrote:

I use mirrors angled to reflect the sun when its sunny, and my birds are out....I cant say it is 100% effective against hawks but ive not had one since using them.....I also have my air rifle at hand loaded.  

same here david, sit there like a redneck on the porch,

No Sparrowhawks here. American Kestrel is the smallest raptor. Does try for young pigeons but its eyes are bigger than its belly. Freind told me the other day he watched as a Great Horned Owl swooped down on a Cooper hawk and killed it.

phil411 wrote:

I put bird under a fish tank today hoping it come back but nowt I I put mirror balls on the back of the roof

put some sauce on the dead bird leave it out not under fish tank though

Fairweather-Turner wrote:

phil411 wrote:

Well I had my first hawk attack yesterday
Three townies landed on my loft and one of me ybs come down and then hawk from no where

Here where I am I get the odd one here & there it's made a few attempts to dive on the birds but I yell at it & it goes away so it hasn't got any birds of mine.

No such luck here Fw & co Spade on concrete "like a gun shot" is my normal trick.  

I have a pair of sparrow hawks live a few hundred meters from my loft. Every year they have a few goes at the ybs but 9 out of 10 times I am there to scare them off or they miss. This year one chased a old bird into the kitchen and around the conservatory followed by the dog. Was like a scene from Benny hill, can't see it getting any better so I've learnt to live with it.

I hope the dog enjoyed a hawk meat supper

cowandchicken wrote:

I have a pair of sparrow hawks live a few hundred meters from my loft. Every year they have a few goes at the ybs but 9 out of 10 times I am there to  scare them off or they miss. This year one chased a old bird into the kitchen and around the conservatory followed by the dog. Was like a scene from Benny hill, can't see it getting any better so I've learnt to live with it.

CC last quote above etc about say's it all from my perspective.

We had a bird hit last week in our allotments but thankfully it wasn't one of ours.it was from another club..not sure why it came to our gardens but the hawk found it

That's one way to get rid of the strays ray but back to the hawk problem my mate had one taken two weeks ago and I had a good hen taken in January

It nearly got a good clock of ours a few weeks ago but our Barry managed to stop it .would have been devastated if it got him..dreading the day its get one though

markevans wrote:

That's one way to get rid of the strays ray but back to the hawk problem my mate had one taken two weeks ago and I had a good hen taken in January

Went out last night to lock up etc here & there was this thing sitting on the loft, totally knackered ripped down the back & only had 3 tail feathers sadly. Put a bowl of water on the landing board & it drank it dry as such . Been missing 4 days "not good" with the latest virus issue here.