Where have all the birds gone?

Thanks LRB - great suggestion about the shoe box! Sounds absolutely right; will have one to hand if they nest next year. With some fresh moss lining it maybe?
Brilliant advice, thank you.

The shrubs are very overgrown but I'll resist tidying and leave the tangled thicket as the birds obviously like it. There is a local cat who tries to predate on my birds but I'm going to put anti-pigeon wires along the top of the boundary fence - birds can access the shrubs from the sky.

Great stuff - yeah you can line the box with moss or  dry leaves - something for a little insulation, maybe line it with newspaper or kitchen roll first, you could even use an old (but clean) t-shirt/tea towel.

If you do start struggling or are worried about them you should give the Wildlife Hospitals Trust a call, they're based in Aylesbury and they have a network of hospitals across the country - you can reach them on 01844 292292

Also take a look at the attached PDFs for a few ideas on ways to discourage cats. You might also want to have a look at our Homes for Wildlife pages for ideas on planting that will offer your birds food and shelter.

All the best

LRB

If you do use the shoebox idea, make sure there are drainage holes on the bottom of the box. Without these the box could easily turn into a swimming pool next time it rains, drowning the poor chicks.

Many thanks Trochilus. Am thinking of commissioning our local basket maker to make a small nest-like bowl out of willow. I could then line it with moss and tie it firmly to branches adjacent to the existing nest - as an annexe! and put any fallen nestlings back in it.
They did all have small wounds from the fall, some I had to tease out fly eggs from - with a sterile neeedle. I expect that was a bit traumatic for them. They still all died.
I'll put soft material on the ground under the nest to cushion the falls next year.

We had baby thrushes fall out of the next into the garden one year so I put a garden cloche over them and left it open for the parents to feed them - luckily we had a high walled garden at the time so no cats about and they were raised quite successfully probably due to good parenting more than my cloche but I did feel it gave them some protection as I couldn't reach the nest high up on the wall.

Dear lucybob - That's really interesting, did you put soft nest-like materials in the cloche? 
Was it made of opaque plastic? I've never used cloches.
How did they get out when they fledged, up and over the top opening? I suppose you didn't see - but they must have done.
Did you provide water?
Larkand warbler

Finch species are often highly sociable birds and do flock together forming often mixed species feeding groups. Other species will be feeding elsewhere perhaps where there is less competition from large feeding groups, primarily because natural food is in such abundance at the momement. Certainly there is plenty of seeds, fruit and even insects still so essentially anything offered in gardens is diluted by the sheer abundance of natural foods. It's only when this supply becomes more limited that we see birds moving en mass back to garden feeders - where the food is readily available. Certainly its fair to say that the UK finch population can often treble in number as winter migrants move in. 

Robins and blackbirds will be some of the first groups to re-occupy territories, i guess this is why they feature on christmas cards, because they're more obvious as the only species really that sing at that time.