Kitchen Garden Forum

Can anyone suggest a way to stop a flock of very small Tits (not sure what kind) from pecking all the paint off my soffit boards. They've virtually stripped the last coat of black down to the original yellow, but don't seem interested in that! Sitting at my Mac I can hear them outside the window - tap, tap, tap!. The paint is Dulux Weathershield - is there something in it that is tasty to birds?

How bizarre!

They are most probably after the insects under the flaking paint?

I'm not sure why but, i think this has been discussed before....

I think you're right, OH. Forgive me, it's an age question!

Maybe someone could find it and see what was the cause then...

Was that a challenge?

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13162&p=127629&hilit=paint#p127629

I have mine covered in upvc so no maintenance and no birds digging for grubs etc, looks ok too if you don't mind white.

I had design control when we converted the barn; no soffits, no barge boards, cast iron gutters that will outlast me.

Both the Blue tits and Great tits have been checking round all the house and greenhouse windows for spiders and spider cocoons. They are examining everything else for aphids. If they are feeding young they need a continuous supply. Perhaps there is something tasty under your paint. Have they stopped now John?

No, PP, they're still at it, but not all the time. Here's a pic of part of the board - how they manage to hang on upside down I don't know!

I wonder if it is the yellow paint, under the black, that is attracting them....maybe it looks like a food source to them!

I'm sure they're almost certainly looking for spiders and other insects. We have tits and robins inspecting around the edges of our window frames As Plum Pudding has suggested they will be doubly busy at this time e of year looking for insects to fed babies.

Why not try hanging up a couple of distraction feeders in the garden with fat balls, suet pellets or coconut shells filled with fat? These are high energy foods like insects and are are the key things our various tits make a bee line for.

Writing of annoying birds, we are at the moment being driven crackers by parent blackbirds. They, in turn, are badgered by their youngsters (of which there are lots about) and they dive bomb us for currants. This morning, a pair came into the backdoor, made their way into the hall and when my OH heard them, they panicked, tried to fly through the closed hall window and of course pooed all over the place. Big clean up required.
Meanwhile, the house sparrows are merrily demolishing the new leaf tips on the pea plants.
Encouraging wildlife in the garden is not easy .......

We had our first arrival of several families of baby starlings today and have been subjected to deafening screeching all day so you have my sympathy Monika. Your blackbirds are obviously pretty fearless. Anything with a fat content in our bird feeders is demolished with the sppped of a plague of locusts and we,re now going to have to move the bird feeders every day to avoid a massive area of bird poo building up on the grass underneath them.

My husband and I always have a battle of wills at this time of year as he,s continually re-stocking the bird feeders while I, being the gardener, am continually complaining that this is merely encouraging them to devour all my lovingly nurtured seedlings .

Two days ago our regular injured wood pigeon who we do feed because we feel sorry for the way she struggles so valiantly devoured my entire crop of lovely kohl rabi seedlings and I was furious. My own fault of course. How is a stupid bird to know that food on the bird table is for eating but food planted in the soil is off limits ?

I wonder how other bird loving gardeners cope with this dilemma?