Reason For Fewer Birds In My Garden!

I wish my reason were as good! Destruction of habitat has meant we have less that a quarter of the birds we had last year. Some species have disappeared altogether! However, I'm happy you had this sighting.

Don't forget, last year we had one of our worst winters for some years, which meant that the birds were desperate for food. this year in contrast has been very mild, with the result that the natural food supply available is very good.

However nice our feeders and the delectable goodies we provide, birds will tend to take natural food before coming into a potentially dangerous area, our gardens, to feed.

with the weather set for a cold snap, over the next few days, we may well see an increase of garden visitors, yet this "winter"

These were not coming to the garden to feed. Just gathering in the evenings at the nest site. They usually start on the nests about now - which always surprises me. By mid - February, most of the nests are started. But as I say, the numbers are well down. Autumn evening flights were much the same as previous years, so I'd have expected the usual numbers or more to be gathering after a mild winter.

Greenfinches are down more than anything in our garden - we used to get 8+ at a time. Only 2 this birdwatch.

I'm encouraged by the mild winter as a reason for fewer species - I had considerably fewer turing up this year than last year. Have also noted a decrease in greenfinches over last couple of weeks but put it down to new bird station in different part of the garden and maybe they need to get used to that? Will monitor to see if the numbers improve.

Very disappointing that I have no overwintering blackcap this year as last year.