Hi everyone,
I'm a garden bird enthusiast and I live in West London where our garden birds have many cats preying on them which makes it a lot harder for them to feed I imagine.
I feed my garden birds daily, being mindful of feeding them higher up to help them stay safe from cats and we regularly see Robins, Woodpigeons, Sparrows, Starlings (have emigrated I think at this time of year but we see lots in milder months), lots of Magpies and the occasional pair of Blue Tits, Blackbirds less so. We even have a gorgeous pure white fantail pigeon that is ringed on both legs that must have got lost, appeared late August and has become resident with the feral pigeons.
I'm curious to know on a particularly cold day like today, when we are told to feed the birds more in winter, where are they hiding? I imagined they'd be constantly looking for food in winter, but when they're not, where are they and what are they doing? We have many parks nearby - are they preparing to nest at this time of year also? Mating? I see much fewer birds in the garden in winter even though I'm putting out even more food for them every day and they are used to coming. Can they not see it? I buy it from RSPB so I know it's quality bird food! Thanks for your replies.