| Non-motoring > Lack of birds ( feathered types) | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: henry k | Replies: 14 |
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New Tue 8 Jun 10 23:11
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - henry k
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Almost all of the birds that I used to see in my garden are missing. I live on the Surrey / Kingston border with plenty of woodland around. Two years ago I discovered that a robin after two abandoned attempts made its nest in the back of my shed. The door is locked every night and opened some days so I had to make a sort of wedge with a perch on it to bend the door and give 24/7 access. Five little ones, having made quite a mess eventually flew off. A couple of robins still follow my toils. I had a bird box of blue tits and in a hollow old tree branch great tits nested. We have three bird feeders that were attractive to quite a few birds. Last summer I noticed the lack of birds and the seed holders were not being frequented. This year things are very bad ( after the cold period). In the garden we get a regular blackbird or two but very little else. We used to get large gangs of blue tits swooping in but no more. I am at a loss to work out what has caused this loss of birds. It started before the cold period. No additional cats. I have only ever seen two Sparrow Hawks in the garden and never seen them in the skys around us. The seed holders have been totally ignored. I have dumped the contents, cleaned the holders, refilled them but nowt. We used to get seed spilled onto the patio that other birds fed on. Nyger seeds are visited occaisionally but not by the Collared doves. I do hope my experience is not signs of things to come. Any ideas what I can do to reverse the trend? |
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New Tue 8 Jun 10 23:49
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Ted
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I wish I knew, H. Although we're strictly urban, we do have a narrow field with horses in it between us and the new tramway. I wonder if all the civil engineering work here has frightened them away. We have the Doves, which coo in the morning, Blackbirds, Tits and Robins and the odd Wren. There seem to be fewer Magpies, probably due to the work and I can't remember when I last saw a Sparrow or a Starling round here. There must be plenty to eat round here with our 30 odd restaurants and wine bars ! I think the last Starling I saw here was one which came down our dining room chimney. I took out the gas fire and sat back. Sure enough, a little head appeared in the hole and looked around. It flew into the kitchen and I had the very devil of a job getting it to understand that the open back door was a better bet than flinging itself against the windows ! It managed it in the end. I really miss the birdsong now....I wish they'd come back, although it's also ' Cat World ' round here ! Ted |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 03:31
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Iffy
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I've noticed bird numbers vary each year for no apparent reason. There's always a good few at the caravan in leafy North Yorkshire, but some years it's almost an inundation. This year the turnout has been on the low side of average. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 06:35
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - -
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Henry we had a similar barren situation up to about 4 years ago, spring and summer silence not a songbird to be seen. We had a serious Magpie overpopulation and they will kill everything, i set about culling them. I won't give out how many as one or two here will be upset, but the resulting bird population growth over the last 2 years especially is nothing short of spectacular. My neighbours are very happy at the results and support with needed permissions the actions, both by shooting and Larsen trap, you can deal with Corvids on your own land anyway. Having witnessed a Crow eating the chicks out of a Goldfinch nest in our garden a few weeks ago they are now an added enemy. If you have serious Corvid problems and having large trees near it sounds a good possibility then thats probably partly the reason for no songbirds. In my travels if i visit places that have no songbirds to speak of then it's a cast iron guarantee that Maggies and Crows are in abundance. Of course we feed the songbirds with a variey of different foods from October through to about now...incidentally the food consumption goes down during April but once the chicks hatch it's a frenzy, i slow it about down now as otherwise they will become too dependent and the area here overpopulated. During the winter and it was a bad one for the birds we were inundated with starving birds. Many people have gardens that are too clinical, grass and paving and fences only with nowhere for birds to hide, no hedges and wild cover no birds. Are you using fat balls feeders and suet packs as well as peanuts and good quality small bird seeds, oh and dried friut the Blackbirds cannot resist. Last edited by: gordonbennet on Wed 9 Jun 10 at 06:39
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 07:07
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Pat
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I have to post my observations on the above post by GB to allow others a balanced view. We have a huge field behind up and our garden is old cottage garden style with bird feeders/table and feeding station, complete with a Laburnam tree to attract the birds. We have pigeons, pheasants, jackdaws, crows, magpies and jays in here frequently. But to contradict the above policy, we have far more sparrows, finches, bluetits, starlings, robins, wrens and woodpeckers who reside here and increase, year after year. Allowing nature to take it's course has been succesful here, and providing food and fat balls, along with a running waterfall during the winter helped their survival. We also have 3 cats, along with a few more who visit regularly and the last time one caught a bird was over 2 years ago............yes, they are lazy! Pat |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 09:20
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - WillDeBeest
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I've been pleasantly surprised by bird numbers this spring despite the cold weather. We put out seeds, peanuts and fat balls all winter, which may have helped, but our Warwickshire garden has had numerous blackbirds, starlings, tits, robins, sparrows, chaffinches and thrushes (mistle and a few song) this spring, along with occasional greenfinches, goldfinches, treecreepers and even a blackcap. There are the usual wood pigeons (after the buds on the plum tree - grrr), collared doves, crows and magpies, too. The swifts are back in numbers now - one of the highlights of my year is the day in May when I see the first black crescent high above me - so all seems reasonably well in that part of the avian world. But I don't live in Warwickshire any more; since last week, home is in red kite territory on the edge of the Chilterns. It's too soon to say what smaller birds we'll get there but there are certainly tits, robins and swifts. I've heard owls and cuckoos too, which I didn't before, and there are bats. We even have hornets, which I'd previously only seen in France, so the signs are encouraging. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 17:50
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Iffy
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...I set about culling them... I don't have a problem with a little wildlife management, and it seems to me gb has done a professional job on the magpies. The backyard at Ifithelps Towers had rather too many snails for my liking, so I have been on squashing duty these past few days. I've probably executed about 20 or 30. There's no doubt this has knocked the population down quite a bit. I've no problems with a few snails out there, but what I don't want is dozens and dozens. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 09:32
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Tooslow
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While there may be other reasons, don't forget we had an extraordinarily cold winter. JH |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 09:35
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - L'escargot
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| We have plenty of birds in our neck of the woods by the Lincolnshire coast. There are always birds in the garden or flying over. Your lack of birds clearly isn't a nationwide phenomenon. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 18:24
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Harleyman
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Once again I find myself agreeing with GB; corvids of any description are considered a pest round here, and with good reason. One of my regular customers has lost about 20 lambs this year to crow predation, this including jackdaws and magpies; apologies for being graphic, but basically what they do is attack newborn lambs, pecking their eyes out first and then getting into their guts via the newly-severed umbilical cord or via the anus. They are also not averse to attacking ewes if they're stuck in the act of lambing. Foxes are hunted down here for the same reason, not just to entertain the upper classes. On the brighter side, there is a wealth of wild birds all around here; kites and buzzards in abundance, woodpeckers, jays (which seem to be on the increase) and nuthatches as well as all the more common ones. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 18:51
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Iffy
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...One of my regular customers has lost about 20 lambs this year to crow predation... I'm sure the farmer will know, but llamas make excellent guard dogs for sheep, certainly against foxes. Dunno if a llama would keep lambs safe from crows. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 20:07
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Harleyman
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IIH, this is West Wales, where the nearest they get to foreign species is Old English sheepdogs! ;-) The accepted local method of getting rid of a persistent fox (apart from shooting it) is to leave an old car in the field for a couple of days. The fox, apparently, associates this with human presence and will keep away. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 20:09
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - MD
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| Volkswagen do a Fox I believe. Ok Ok. |
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New Wed 9 Jun 10 20:08
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - MD
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Alpacas similarly can smell a fox at 1000yds. As for Magpie predation. I hate the ruddy things for obvious reasons as I hate Reynard for his destruction and greed and I think both should be culled, humanely of course. Larsen traps need to be visited at least twice a day and fresh water always provided. However. on the subject of bird/nest predation. Mr. Owl is always busy and sometimes when least expected. Yesterday whilst gardening here at home a large Blighter sat for 20 minutes in a small Copper Beech some Fifteen feet away just watching me. After I spotted him/her I made no other eye contact. When I moved closer he loped away. Tonight in about half an hour I will take the Dogs outside into the Garden and it is likely that there will either be a resident Wren or a Blackbird screaming Blue Murder, which will usually (in town) indicate the presence of a Cat. However here it will be an Owl, the same one I suspect as above who will be perched at head level in another small piece of cover. Last week it flew off from no more than Six, yes Six feet from me when I went to investigate the aforementioned screaming. I didn't even see it then until it's wing beat pushed air across my face. Nature is a funny thing, sometimes unpredictable and sometimes not as clever as folk think. Peace to you all.................M. |
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New Fri 11 Jun 10 15:52
Lack of birds ( feathered types) - Stuartli
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>>As for Magpie predation. I hate the ruddy things for obvious reasons..>> I use to feel the same way, but the section entitled My Garden in this link tempered the view: www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/magpie.htm We have most of the common birds using the back garden because I put seed etc out on a regular basis throughout the year (20kg of wild bird seed only costs £13), but it has been pleasing to see a return of the house sparrows for the past couple of years. Having a bird bath with regular changes of water is also important, especially in very hot weather. Last edited by: Stuartli on Fri 11 Jun 10 at 15:53
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