Would you keep your cat indoors during the bird nesting season.

[NumbBum]

When exactly is the nesting season? I have cats but would keep them in if I knew when it was. I really love birds, one of the things I like in Sheffield is that there are loads of birds, I've seen Blue Tits, Wrens, Lapwings and Kestrels up here, you don't get that where I'm from.

 

The nesting season is very variable in length. Some birds have a single brood - others have several broods. Some nest early in the year - habitat is usually the thing - grass is still short - or they normally have several small broods. Those that nest later tend to be driven by food availability - insects carapace also give the basic materials needed for chicks to grow feathers. Some nest in holes trees - others nest on the ground - some on water - some in holes in cliffs - some construct a nest - others use nests vacated by others who have finished breeding. It a complex subject.

 

Look up the species in and around your garden and control your cats to give them a better chance.

[NumbBum]

I dont hink many farmers realise the problems that pesticides and hedgerow destructions have on birds either. If you really wanted to save them you could go and shoot all the farmers, or at least stop buying all their produces to make them go out of business.

 

Many farmers have been involved in "Set-aside" for a long time. They also work in close relationships with groups such as the RSPB. Many farmers are looking at providing bird habbitat as a form of passive insect management. As oil runs out so will many oil intensive uses of farming.

 

see the following blog. http://whingeandcringe.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-watched-natural-history-program-farm.html

 

WIKI says:- Set-aside as a political measure was introduced by the European Union (EU) in 1988 to help reduce the large and costly surpluses produced in Europe under the guaranteed price system of the Common Agricultural Policy; and to deliver some environmental benefits following considerable damage to agricultural ecosystems and wildlife as a result of the intensification of agriculture. It has since become used as a generic term for the practice of leaving a proportion of farm land uncultivated or put to non-agricultural use for a period of time.

 

In the days before modern pesticides, it was necessary to fallow cropping land regularly in order to provide an opportunity to reduce levels of weeds by cultivation techniques, and levels of pests and disease. This could only be carried out in the absence of a host crop, during which the population of relevant pests and diseases would be expected to decline to levels below which an economic threat to the following crop would occur. Nutrients such as nitrogen were also replenished during fallowing, but fertilisers are now used for this purpose.

 

The need for set-aside in Western Europe today is largely political and social, as fertilisers and pesticides are now used. Nowadays, as well as being used for this reason, it is also used to prevent food surpluses. It also has the benefit of providing habitat for wild animals, particularly if the set aside is land that is never used, rather than rotated.

 

Many farmers are doing a good job to bring wildlife back onto their land.

[TimmyR]

Definately not. Unfair to the cat.

 

I agree. A bell on their collar quickly stops them catching anything.

[NumbBum]

So I can have a house horse

 

I had one, I put my clothes on it to dry.

[NumbBum]

Any cat going near nesting areas in my garden feels the full force of my catapult. They only do it once....

 

Against the law....

 

Peter Johnstone drowned a cat after weighing the carriers down with bricks and sealing them with masking tape. The 57-year-old said he killed the animal because it scared his wife. He also feared the pet could infect his 51-year-old partner, who had recently returned home after an operation. Johnstone, rowed with his nephew, who lived next door, after the cat kept sneaking into his home. He tried to stop the animal roaming free, and even placed spikes on his fence. Johnstone was jailed for four months and banned from keeping animals for 25 years. He also lost his job, then a bit later his home as he could not keep up the repayments....

 

Actions have consequences.

[claire1976]

I can't understand why cats aren't subject to the same/similar laws as dogs. I'm quite sure my dog would love to be turned out everyday, free to roam and crap everywhere then kill something and arrive home for it's tea when it's ready. After all, it's just as 'natural' for a dog to hunt and kill as it is for a cat.

However, I am a responsible owner and clean up after my dog, walk it on a lead until it is safe to let if off and only when its been trained to recall. Then I take it home and feed it. Why are cats subject to different laws? I'm sick of cleaning up cat s**t off my front garden and seeing them walk their muddy paws all over my car roof.

[LibertyBell]

Against the law....

 

Peter Johnstone drowned a cat after weighing the carriers down with bricks and sealing them with masking tape. The 57-year-old said he killed the animal because it scared his wife. He also feared the pet could infect his 51-year-old partner, who had recently returned home after an operation. Johnstone, rowed with his nephew, who lived next door, after the cat kept sneaking into his home. He tried to stop the animal roaming free, and even placed spikes on his fence. Johnstone was jailed for four months and banned from keeping animals for 25 years. He also lost his job, then a bit later his home as he could not keep up the repayments....

 

Actions have consequences.

 

Not quite in the same league is it? I set mouse traps to stop rodents entering my house and I don't think that's against the law is it?

[LibertyBell]

And what about other nest raiders, Starlings, Crows, Rats, Squirrels, Jays...for example... Do you spend all day in your rocking chair waiting for them too?

 

Or do you just hate cats?

 

No because I'd stop the cat raiding a Jays nest as well.

 

They are all wild animals doing what comes naturally. Cats are domesticated vermin who are nothing to do with the food chain.

[NumbBum]

Not quite in the same league is it? I set mouse traps to stop rodents entering my house and I don't think that's against the law is it?

 

Domestic pets such as cats and dogs come under various bits of legislation. Cats have the "right to roam" enshrined in the legislation.

 

The mouse (like MP's) is classified under vermin.

[claire1976]

I'm not saying dogs should have the same rights as cats, I'm saying cat's should be subjected to similar legislation to dogs. Then it would simply stop them burying DELETED in my garden for my son to find when he's joining me in the gardening and killing the wildlife.

With regards to dogs being viscious, true - some can be, but try convincing my sister that cats are harmless, she nearly lost an eye as a child thanks to the neighbours cat.

Edited May 15, 2009 by Classic Rock
masked swearing