Interesting

Yes, absolutely true. Is it possible to not like such things? We try to not feed more than they can collect to avoid others to be attracted. On our food station we use a tray underneath the main tray to keep the food from dropping down to the rodents. Now the gulls have started to collect from our food too, in addition to the other food they bring to the chicks. When we were finishing this video, the chicks left the nest for the first time. They are still on the roof, but we don't know for how long.

Yesterday, when we were about to finish the video, the chicks left the nest for the first time. Now they are all over the roof. We don't know how long they will stay. It's nice to hear there are nice people in the garden. It's so much better to befriend the birds. Then the birds will be polite and friendly. Only scared birds are ' aggressive'.

@@picapicalife thats also why i have permission to record the birds. It will be nice to see gher and ghims Chick grow. We sadly lost the third chick in our area

@@picapicalife Believe me we have tried every method of feeding possible but we feed large quantities of birds, the gulls are a minority, and no matter what we do to keep the food 'contained' it always gets thrown out and either into the river which the ducks eat, or the rats, or onto the deck where all the birds pick it up quickly, but once the rats have been attracted they lie in wait! We've been feeding for over 10 years but the gulls for only 5, and before the gulls came the rats didn't come over, at least not in quantities that we'd have noticed, so it seemed to be the type of foods we were giving the gulls. Also lots of other gulls were attracted and it was mayhem, total chaos in the skies above too. Now the Herring Gulls, other Common Gulls, and probably in a while the Black headed Gulls too, will still try to come down but give up more easily. The gulls seem quite happy with the mealworms for now, I've offered them other bits and pieces but they only take a bit now and then, we expect this to change when the young are a bit older. All the other gulls gobble up the mealworms too but they obviously aren't as attractive as the other food, though we do offer quite a selection. We hadn’t seen rats , apart from one solitary old guy, for ages, perhaps the otters or foxes had raided their nests as they seem to do at times, but as soon as the gulls arrived they turned up, thankfully it's not bad at present. Of course it may not just be that that attracted the rats but also the presence of young birds at this time. We had to cut back dramatically on our feeding anyway as the number of birds coming was way out of control. That's good the little ones are up and about, it did seem in the video that the parents were encouraging them to move out of the nest. It will be interesting to see where they go or if they remain near the nest.

@@user-uy7qw2nx5o He, he, yes, we feed in a much lesser scale, but we can still recongnize your description. Guess every bird-feeder know about these issues. We have to alter feeding 'strategy' every year to not create more problems than good. There are always tendencies to frenzy... Usually we prioritize one gull couple, one magpie couple and of course an uncertain number of small birds. Last year we were charmed by the Oystercathcers and started to feed them a little inside our garden. They became very house-warm and started to think the garden and the area around were their property, including the gulls' nest. They started to harass the gulls, Ghim not quite up to stand up to the OCs. Gher has problems even this year. We had to stop giving the OCs attention. This year Ghim has no problems dealing with the OCs. OCs have been reported being able to kill other birds with their monstrous beak and they are very tough headed. We don't want to create conflicts, but it's not easy not to be charmed by some birds. This year we have adjusted us to and fro to give attention to three gull couples: Gher and Ghim, The 'leg-lady' couple and The Shegull couple. Exon and lady have our hearts, but we can not give them any food (that would cause an unwanted conflict). These three couples have agreed on the limits and boarders, and they accept the attention we give to each couple. We think they are related somehow. Ghim and Leg-male may be descendants of Hegull and his first spouse (according to their age, kids from Shegull might be too young still). Ghim, Leg-male and Shegull all have this 'we-know-you'-trust to us. Their partners are getting there too, but they trust us on a 'lower' level. Today Ghim and eventually Gher started to eat from the box, like Shegull and Hegull used to. This is a much better routine in every way for us.

@@picapicalife I can imagine only too well how frenzied things could get at times in your area!! We love Oyster Catchers, we see a lot here on the beaches and fields but to have them in your garden must be special. I knew very little about their temperaments etc. so it's interesting to hear how they and the gulls interact, and yes I can imagine how much damage those monstrous beaks could inflict! I read that a lot of Norway's OCs winter here. It's incredibly hard as you say to not be taken in by the charms of other birds, I think you are doing really well in prioritising those couples, we try to do exactly this too but I am seriously struggling right now to stick to 'the plan ' where some are concerned! If it were not for my 'sometimes' more sensible partner (though he is also won round on many occasions ) I'd be giving in to the 'begs' I'm getting daily by Mr and Mrs Sneaky , I'm feeling really mean having to shoo them away but I know 'our' gulls are happier that way. I'm also feeling terribly guilty as I gave in to one old Herring gull, couldn't help it as last year he/she was in a bad way, wing damage from an attack from another HG, on top of some problem we think with either his/her 'perception ' or sight, and we formed a bond, and this is creating problems for Sammy if they both come at the same time. Like you, we feel that some of the gulls may be previous years' offspring of 'ours '. I was thinking of Leg -lady yesterday when we visited the Crows, the male with the bad leg seems to be managing well though it can't be easy. I hope Leg-lady is coping? That's great the Gs are now taking from the box , I understand how much easier this must make things and it's bond to strengthen bonds too.

Hi, thank you.