i do have sunflower hearts, fat balls, nygerseed, mealworms, and "no waste" bird seed,peanuts, i do get some goldfinches blackbirds and robins but nearly no great tits coal tits a few dunnocks or hedge sparrows as i still call them it just seems to be all house sparrows? i am happy to be feeding these birds but just wondered where all the others are feeding and on what? mystery
yes you are quite right it does seem quieter this year that the last couple, and it has been fairly mild, many thanks alan i shall just keep the feeders and table topped up.
Unknown said: Is it only this year the birds are not visiting, if so i don't think it has been cold enough yet to get them to seek food out in the gardens, quite a few are reporting their gardens quiet
Is it only this year the birds are not visiting, if so i don't think it has been cold enough yet to get them to seek food out in the gardens, quite a few are reporting their gardens quiet
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Hi Neil welcome from me in Barnsley.
I too have had a very quiet spell during the autumn. I have 26 species on my garden list but until recently, like you I thought I'd been deserted. I didn't see a single goldfinch, blackbird or tit of any type for several weeks. Not even a sparrow in fact!
Then suddenly, the week before Christmas they all turned up at the same time and started tucking in as though nothing has changed! I get up to 10 goldfinch on my Niger and Sunflower hearts several times a day, along with Greenfinch and - a first timer on my seed table - a pair of Bullfinch.
I'm sure Alan is right, that there's been an unusually abundant amount of natural food around that has reduced the birds' dependence on us temporarily. Keep putting the food out - they'll be back!
Regards
Ian
Hi Neil, and welcome from me in Sheffield. I did hear somewhere that there has been an abundance of natural food this year, which is good for the birds. My garden's been quieter than usual, but they are returning now and I'm sure yours will.
Annie
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Einstein
thanks all, i am sure you are right, perhaps its because for the last 5 or so years i have taken part in a survey (now discontinued) by the avon wildlife trust in which we had to log the different species over the winter months, i may have been more aware of what was happening? oh by the way i live in bristol, many thanks an happy new year to all.
Having moved north in the past 4 months from Derbyshire to Aberdeenshire, I put up the bird feeders with not much hope. However I think they have all followed me. Only I have gained Tree Sparrows! They were the first to venture onto my hangers. I too put a mix of uncoated seeds including hearts, oats, millet and others. I did get niger but having run out before moving have not yet restocked. However the goldfinches are abundant, as are the sparrows and chaffinches and the starlings have also turned up, together with the collared doves. Its the Tree sparrows I am so thrilled about, though they do seem shy now the other birds are flocking in. I have a seagull on the lamp post regularly but so far he has kept away. But it does cost and my budget is not large.