Disappearing blackbirds?

I live in Battersea, with a garden with plenty of trees (too small for nesting). Last year was a bumper year for blackbirds. I was on the edge of two territories so there was a lot of competitive singing and quite a few face-to-face standoffs. In the hottest weather one bird used to sunbathe; they fed on worms, and on flying ants in season; they parked a fledgling for its first couple of days outside the nest.

This year – nothing. No songs audible anywhere, even in the distance. No sightings either.

It is not just Battersea. I have friends who live in Chelsea who have seen and heard nothing from the blackbirds this year. And in Wandsworth.

Is there some sort of population crash I haven't heard about?

  • I can only comment on my own urban back garden observations, and here the blackbirds have been quiet this year after likewise, a bumper year last year. I could be due to the weather being wetter and food being more abundant elsewhere, though I doubt that too much here, because we had feeders up and ground feeders for ground feeding birds, currently all removed due to a rat concern in the last few days.

    I'm tempted to think they may be travelling before settling down, but only a wild guess, and I'm sure someone will correct me if that is totally wrong.

    I'm not overly alarmed because there was a lot of youngsters and we seem to be getting an influx of blackbirds returning as the weather turns colder.

  • Our Blackbirds just seem to be getting active again after their usual post breeding lull but not in their usual numbers. We were in Northumberland last week and although we saw plenty of birds looking through my note book for the week we only saw 6 Blackbirds all week.
  • I think it may be due to a poor breeding season. If you recall we had a cold spring this year. There were a lot of reports of Blue and Great Tits dying in their nest boxes because their parents couldn't get enough natural food or the cold. I think that many Blackbirds may have suffered a similar fate. I certainly didn't see many young Blackbirds in the garden.
    By contrast spring 2020 was warm and sunny and most birds had a good breeding season.
    That's my perception although there may have been other factors at work as well which I'm not aware of.

  • I also have been wondering about the blackbird.

    I have always had blackbirds since starting feeding the birds two years ago but this year I haven't seen one.

    I am down in South Wales...GrinningGrinningGrinning