Humane ways to minimise pigeons in my garden?

[SpainToday]

Next door have a bird feeder in their garden, their choice, but obviously we get more birds (particularly pigeons) in our garden as a result, and I hate them. They leave such a mess and spoil my enjoyment of the garden. We have a cat who is too elderly to provide much help!

Any suggestions? Short of hiring a sniper I’m not sure what we can do?

Posting here for traffic

Thread title edited by MNHQ on OP's request, to make it clear she was referring to pigeons specifically

They hunt because it's their instinct. They are cats albeit domesticated.

Spiny shiny sun catchers, around eye level.

We have a bird feeder, greedy pigeons were eating all the seed that were left for other birds, since we put shiny spiny sun catcher we hardly see any pigeons, and other birds are not bother by it.

How would you tell a cat not to hunt ?

MN have kindly amended the title of my thread to say “pigeons”, hopefully some constructive advice will now follow

But in all honesty how many pigeons are we talking about? And what are they doing that is causing you not to enjoy your garden? Yes it can be annoying having to wipe a bit of bird mess of a piece of furniture, but what else is happening that's making you annoyed?

…you can’t target Pigeons, without targeting other birds.

Again pigeons, they are intelligent creatures. They recognise faces and people. They are smarter than you think. It's their home too.

Also should have said- is this a fairly small garden perhaps without grass? If it's small and without grass then bird mess would be more noticable. I've seen very small terrace type gardens with actual netting erected across the top- was quite fine looking and high up so out of the way, is that an option or would your space be too big for that? Would need to check it and if birds were getting caught in it then its no use of course.

We (affectionately) call them the fat grey chickens here. They are hilarious both in their shameless lovemaking and their rather haphazard approach to nest building. The squabs are funny-ugly when they first emerge and then just funny and surprisingly loyal to the garden for a little while until they move on.

Yes they shit everywhere, but mostly everywhere on the garden itself which is no worse than the dog and where I'm sure they add a bit of feed to the lawn or border.

How would you tell a cat not to hunt ?

To be fair, as someone who watched (on camera) the neighbours cat wipe out over a dozen young birds from 3 different nests one early morning last year - just keeping the cats indoors during dawn and dusk during bird breeding season would make a massive difference.

Cats will go after chicks in a nest during the day time if they become aware of them. I dont like the idea of animals eating other animals where excessive pain might be involved (compared to being stunned first or throat cut quickly) but I still dont hold that against cats. Its just natural instincts.

Cats will go after chicks in a nest during the day time if they become aware of them.

They will - but, by far, the majority of predation happens during dawn and dusk. I don't blame the cats, which is why I suggest the owners take action. It's not much to keep the cat in during those hours and would have the biggest impact on reducing predation.

A bit like how I don't let the dog just go for the cats in the garden - even though it's his natural instinct to do so.

Cats should have collars with bells to alert birds , cats are so bad for the Uk bird population
maybe some wire above bird boxes to try stop cats getting at them too

Exactly

Dogs are a bit different though as they are kept in your garden and you dont let them jump fences and go wandering off wherever. Much easier to control them. Cats can travel quite far away from home. But in the case of OP I'm sure she would be grateful for a few predators in her garden. I actually find it surprising more pigeons dont seem to get caught by cats considering they seem more podgy and heavy and slow compared to other birds.

Are you my neighbour?
I hear her complaining to herself, whenever I refill the bird feeder.

Yep, I suspect the fact that it involves a bit of effort is probably what stops most cat owners to be honest.

Shame, but it's human nature I suppose - not to put ourselves out if we can get away with it.

Are you being serious? Dogs and cats are completley different. Most dogs would have trouble getting over high walls and fences. Cats are far more flexible and agile.

I'm sorry but you will just have to put up with a cute cat occassionally walking through your garden 🙄

If theres one topic that brings out the crazies it's cats in gardens!

I like to feed the smaller birds tits and robins and such.

Hate the bloody pigeons who come sniffing for the spillage and the grey squirrel would ate though a plastic feeder. We have cats too tho in a catio during nesting.

We swapped to those weighted anti squirrel feeders and have a lot less pigeons now.

Kites won’t help I’ve watched as one swooped down and got its kill in my garden they fly over regularly daily and we still get pigeons. But our garden is also full of fruits and veggies it’s a hard one.

They shag and shit everywhere never seen the little birds sitting on seating and shitting over it like those bastards.

Oh on that we are in complete agreement

Your the one who cant understand how easy it is for cats to move about gardens. Unless it's like a prison with high wire fencing with razor wire at the top.

Put a roof on your garden.

Theres nothing you can do and birds need to be fed as much as possible since the issue with insects... Also a human problem. Nests have babies in them atm.

Bastards 🤣 what about, dare I say the word- seagulls! Hopefully you dont get those in your garden.

We used to have the exact same issue. The bloody pigeons sat on our roof cooing waiting for the birdfood to come out. I bought a lazer light from Amazon which worked well, also water hosing them & that works for that time. We actually had a mouse/mice nesting in our garden because of this! Horrid.
The neighbour died and the problem ended.
(I'm not suggesting killing your neighbour haha) but it is a horrid problem to have. Speak to your neighbour.