England house in residential area- what can I use to deter birds like pigeons and magpies from garden?

[Mrsmockingbird]

Any ideas anyone has used that’s not too expensive and not a sound deterrent as we have elderly neighbours who are in all day so don’t want to impact them.

Thank you

Haha, I've got a little dog who chases birds but it doesn't deter them. I also have a cat and the magpies gang up to torment her. I don't think there's much that scares these birds. Please don't try shooting them or injuring them.

If you're trying to stop them scoffing food you put out for smaller birds then get a feeder with a cage over it. Smaller birds can access it but it keeps larger birds and squirrels out. I have one like this...

Australian magpies are different. Just like Australian spiders are different. Aussie wildlife is deadlier!

The ever present joylessness and intolerance on MN is something to behold. What made you so miserable OP?

Why ?
what are you scared of with birds ?

If you want to see a carefully curated selection of animals chosen to favour the ones you find more interesting then you need to go to a zoo. In nature it's survival of the fittest and trying to control that is like standing shouting at the tide not to come in.

Also, magpies do take baby birds, to feed to their own babies. It's not nice to see, but then nor is a nest full of starving magpie chicks.

That's awful!

Magpies most certainly have a massive detrimental affect on songbirds. The National Trust don't advertise the fact they control magpies on their land because of all the backlash they'd get, but they do, because it's absolutely necessary.

Magpies are one of the species that have exceptionally few predators but predate ferociously on songbirds, and their eggs.

Populations of songbirds are substantially higher where magpies have some degree of control.

As humans we unintentionally kill wildlife all the time with our very presence. We can at least utilise this power positively by helping to protect songbird decline from a insatiable, hugely populous predator (legally).

Pigeons however don't prey on other birds but can be issue with crops.

if i am home and i see a magpie, i sometimes shoo it away
they are less frequent visitors to the garden than the sparrows, blackbirds and blue tits

They eat the eggs of many other birds, especially song birds which are massively in decline. Same with crows.

Thanks for stating this. It's all true.

Salute the magpies 👋🏻

My cat recently brought a live magpie in through the cat flap and then released it in the house

I welcome all birds into my garden and feed the crows and magpies in the hope they leave the smaller birds alone. The crow particularly enjoyed some leftover corned beef last week and stuffed it all into his beak.

A wood pigeon came into the kitchen recently as well. I think it was confused. I don't even mind wasps and I feed them jam to keep them out of the house. We had quite a few queens hibernating in the house over the winter.