Well chaps I guess I'm the odd one out (again)
I can only speak for myself in regards cats and wildlife.
There is certainly no shortage of birds (unless it's breeding season) in both my front and back garden and although I don't own a cat since Fannie-Anne passed away four years ago, there is a cat that "lives" in the garden ( and has an outdoor kennel ) 24/7. During any period of twelve hours I've seen 6 cats visit ( and none of them do their business here, thankfully) and I have to be honest I have seen them stalking the birds but rarely do they catch them. Maybe because there is usually upwards of 100 here there is safety in number and more alarm calls. If I only had a few birds visit I daresay they would be more slain.
The cat that "lives" here lives in harmony with a pair of hedgehog in fact within feet of each other for the last few months.
And you all know from my garden sightings that I've had some cracking birds over the years, and they are not put off by the felines
. And long may it continue. Last year I had two pair of Blackies and between them they had five broods and none were killed!
I understand that cats do kill wildlife but it is inbred for them to do that.
I'm not getting into any slanging match, like in previous years, we are all entitled to our opinions, and I can only speak from experience.
Kind regards
Max