Help - need advice. Birds pulling my front door wreath apart.

[Stressedoverkids]

I have a beautiful red berries on twisted willow wreath on my front door. It's fake and was expensive.

This is the second year I have had it. No problems last year. This morning the birds have attacked it overnight and pulled lots of it out.

I don't want to harm any wildlife!!

I do live in the countryside and have various foxes, squirrels, birds etc visit the garden.

So do I bin it? and if so what can I put out instead?

I have previously made proper fresh foilage wreaths. The birds demolished it within a few days although thankfully at least they wouldn't have been harmed.

If you live in the countryside what do you do?

I wonder could you sprinkle some kind of spice on it

They must be very hungry.
Feed them some fat balls, away from the wreath but close enough so they can find them.
If sll the neighbours have tidied their naice gardens there is nothing to eat, and after the horrid summer with no rain, everything plant based is either shrivelled or didnt yield, and the insects died of thirst so are not hibernating in leaf stalks.
Feed them. All winter. They are bloody hungry and desperately need to fatten up before winter. Please. If they don't have a suffient layer of fat they will freeze and die. And the summer was tough.

It's too early to put it up. They've got another 3 weeks to tear it up.

Even though you are in the countryside the insects are in decline, whatever didnt succumb to pesticides has died in the summer. And the farmers have probably ploughed already and planted their winter crops, meaning there is nothing to glean, and no insects in leftover foliage. Depends on the state of the fields though. We live by extensive woodland and notice that the birds were extra hungry this year.

Ok how do I feed the birds and keep them safe from my cat?

High up a tree?

I put bird feeders up in a tree to keep them away from the cats. They don't seem interested in climbing trees here at least

Try and hang them on spindly branches that wouldn't support the weight of a cat.

I try and hang the feeders as high as possible, using a small stepladder if necessary (!) Some are suspended on pulley/ bit of thin rope hooked over a branch and tied lower down. Means I can lower them to refill without getting the ladder out

Get a few different feeders to increase appeal/ volume of feathered visitors.

Wilko and Home Bargains/pound shops are good for bird food. My visitors go mad for those half coconut shells. Once they're empty I refill them with a mixture of melted lard (microwave), oats and bird seed. Set in the fridge overnight and they're ready to go out.

Sorry about your wreath OP!

Put a dog buster collar on the tree so the cat can't climb up. Like a squirrel baffle.