Birds, Mammals and Wildlife Gardening – Cat Perils

It’s not necessarily the case that if you love birds you hate cats, but it can be heartbreaking to find that your long-established coterie of flying visitors are falling prey to a new cat on the block. Here are a few ways to try and prevent cat incursions into your territory.

Believe it or not, one of the easiest routes is to get a cat! Cat sanctuaries often have elderly cats which spend most of their time indoors. Such a cat, fitted with a lovely melodic bell on their collar, will put off other cats from visiting your garden.
Flimsy plastic roll-up fencing placed on top of a fence can stop cats climbing over, or, if you don’t mind how it looks, roll up some chicken wire and nail the cylinders loosely to the top of the fence – cats hate the way it moves under they feet as they try to jump down.
Taut wire or string fitted 10-15 cm above the fence-top makes it difficult for cats to balance on the fence.
Set a downward-opening cone or punch a hole in a biscuit tin and fix it to the pole below the bird table to prevent cats climbing up. Vaseline or other grease on the pole will help too. Placing clippings from thorny or spiky plants under bird feeders and under bushes where there are nests to discourage cats from using these areas to stalk birds.
Orange or lemon peel, or citronella are all supposed to deter cats, which are not keen on the smell of citrus, so sprinkle or strew them under the bird table.

Birds, mammals and wildlife gardening cat photograph by Atmantis, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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