Starlings......help! !

We have the same problem with pigeons. Had to stop using the bird table for that reason. Just have hanging feeders now.

Rarely see a starling round here anymore.

There are sort of cage things you can use on grass. They cover the food and only allow small birds through. We had one but son collared it. Used to make me sad for the less brave birds though. They hopped round the outside in desperation.

I have had up to 20 starlings a day coming since the spring too. I don't mind them, but had to delay putting out the food in the mornings until the neighbours got up, as they were very noisy. However, this week, they have almost stopped coming, now that the babies have most of their adult plumage. It has cost me a fortune in dried mealworms and Chunky Dumpling fat balls (their favourites), so not sorry to be needing less. I have also been visited by up to 12 magpies at a time, as well as crows, who like the filled coconut shells. From past experience I know that the small birds will now get more of a look-in, and the starlings will disappear. I hope you find the same, Katek.

I see hardly any starlings around here. It's a different story with pigeons and jackdaws. My neighbour moved and left me her very smart bird feeding station. One of the attachments has a long container inside a sort of cage which only tits and small finches can enter. It also keeps out marauding squirrels.

We have lots of magpies, fat pigeons and seagulls although we are not near the sea.

We haven't seen any starlings for a long time, but the sparrows seem to be back.

Our bird feeders are dominated by sparrows. Hardly anything else gets a look in. Not even starlings. And the bl***y rooks have discovered the walnuts are ready!

Jackdaws and pigeons are a problem here, too. I've decided to just go with the nut feeder for the blue tits and finches - and sultanas for the blackbirds in the spring.

We get mainly pigeons and seagulls here as well, used to see a lot of pied wagtails on the bank out at the front, but they seem to have disappeared lately. I wish we could see a dozen magpies, there`s only ever the one. It`s a different matter on the waterway at the front of the house, we see ducks, geese, cormorants, moorhens, swans, and the odd grebe.

Somebody call?

There is a large (40-50) flock of starlings living somewhere near here. We often see them in the evening. We have had 8-10 on and around the bird table at once.
I had read that starling numbers are decreasing but not round here ! I'm more frustrated by the feral pigeons.

We have lots of sparrows an other small birds, chaffinches, blue tits, goldfinches etc. We only ever see starlings in the depths of winter. We get crows visiting, DH puts seed on the ground for them and keeps the feeders full for the little birds.

Does anyone know the magpie 'one for sorrow, two for joy' rhyme beyond 'seven for a secret never to be told', or does it finish there? A friend always says hello to them, as she believes they bring bad luck if you don't. There is one sitting on my feeder at the moment, along with three collared doves.

Eight is a wish
Nine is a kiss
Ten is a bird you must not miss !

Thanks Nina!

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told

I'm singing the theme tune from 'Magpie' in my head as I type this!!

I think that, when you see a magpie, you are supposed to bow your head and say 'Good morning Mr Magpie'.

They are so numerous now around here that I would be doing that all day long, I am more likely to say bugger off go away and leave the little birds and their eggs alone you great big bullies. They like to eat blackbirds' eggs.

Starlings are on the RSPB red list so by feeding them you're helping to support a declining species.

They are certainly not declining in my part of Oxfordshire! I have watched the murmurations at Otmoor Nature Reserve, fantastic to see!

The decline is general so there still seem to be starlings about but there are actually less of them than there used to be.

Be careful about putting seed feeders at ground level, I was up very early one morning and saw a whole family of mice feeding from ours. I understood that blackbirds were ground feeders so thought I was helping them. The ones in our garden soon learned how to hang upside down to get what they wanted from seed and nut feeders.

Still on the subject of starlings; in the last three days, on walks around my local area, I have come across flocks of them gathering in late afternoon. One lot was on a pylon, another in the hedge of a children's nursery, and today on a grassy slope at the edge of the Mini Car Plant staff car park. They are so noisy!

They're wonderful. So full of life and wonderfully argumentative.

They are a Red Data book species, just saying

If you chase away the Starlings often enough they get the message. Now if I am standing in the patio window they swoop past and don't land. A few hammers on the window chase them away and after a few times they don't bother coming back. This leaves your seed and pea nuts to the genuine little birds.

How are starlings not genuine little birds?
I love their colouring.