Hi all, I'm new to this community but really would love some advice. I moved house in February, my old house was close to a small woodland surrounded by fields and I had a busy feeder from early morning until sunset all year round. Mainly tits, nuthatches and lesser woodpecker. I basically put up feeders the first day I got there and birds appeared.
My new house has been a different story! I'm still rural backing into fields with some big trees but more houses and less woodland. There a nature reserve a mile away too. I've had various feeders up since moving in and have sporadic flurries but quite often empty feeders. For a very brief period I had a FULL garden and I was overwhelmed and overjoyed with greenfinch, chaffinches, house sparrows, tits, goldfinches, Robins, wrens, blackbirds, green woodpecker. I then got rats about a month ago which came out in the day and climbed onto my bird table so had to remove some of the feeders for a bit and put up a big seed catcher and some birds have come back but not all. I also now have a sparrowhawk that visits and perches on the feeding pole.
My only constant visitors are a few tits, the occasional Robin and a charm of goldfinches who I love but seem really reluctant to come into the garden and fly around for ages before coming in. They hang out in the trees nearby for hours sometimes.
I just don't know how to get my full garden of birds back, even the blackbirds are rarely coming. I have a bird table with mealworm, peanut feeder and fat balls. Another feeding pole station with sunflower hearts in a feeder and a tray, a suet block and Nijer seed feeder. A bird bath and another water bowl. Both situated near cover. I clean regularly.
I just hate staring out at an empty feeder, it makes me so sad!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm at a loss.
Thank you