Have been doing the Big Garden Birdwatch for years now but this year has been a disaster. The birds just have not returned to my garden as they usually do in the late Autumn/early Winter. Despite the fact that I've always got lots of feeders out with different food in them and two birdbaths, I've been reduced to feeding a pair of Blackbirds and a Dunnock with occasional visits from other birds. I wonder if anyone else has this experience.
We've had a dearth of starlings this autumn/winter, and less coal tits, but otherwise not much difference. I wonder if yours have been attracted away by other food sources?
"Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not too sure about the universe..." - Albert Einstein
I have had the same problem. The decline in all birds , especially small garden birds, around my house has been dramatic since Red Kites arrived/ were introduced in the area. Don't get me wrong I like the kites, but they are just about the only birds we see now. I know the kites don't harm the smaller birds but I am positive they have scared them off. Today my garden was visited by 1 blackbird, two wood pigeons, a kestrel (never seen him before!) and three kites. That was it! Apart from the kites the other birds appeared between 10 and 11am. It was such a bad result I re-did the survey twice but only saw the kites.
I live on the edge of a village over looking miles of farmland so at this time of year used to have loads of different breeds of birds in the garden, around the ponds and on the feeders. But over the last 5 years have had a steady increase in the numbers of Red Kite and a proportional decrease in all other birds (we even used to get buzzards but these have also gone). We can have upto 10 kites flying over the back of our house at one time, which tells me there are too many of them.