Why have my garden birds disappeared?

Not good news for you just now Emily but am sure they will be back when the colder weather starts to bite ... having a great extension of summer weather here just now, are you?  So there will be plenty of natural food still available for all!  

I have no BB's at present, waiting for migratory species to arrive to swell the numbers, plenty of Pyracantha berries to tempt them!  Also only a couple of Starlings just now, they are massing for migration & never know how many there might be when all settled down!  Am always lucky with my Spadgers though, such a natural colony of them here in the quarry all around my garden!

Birds also take a while to get used to changes in feeders & feeding areas so they may just be sussing out if it's ok to trust new fence!

Keep us updated & some pics please when they return!

Hi Emily I would agree with Wendy that the normal summer holidays have been extended because of the abundance of natural food. My cherry tree is still loaded with fruit, now decaying, and in 25 years that's the first time it's ever happened! They usually disappear en masse within 24 hours of ripening, and all I get out of them is loads of purple bird poo on my paths!

Funnily enough though, I was only saying on Saturday to my brother that I hadnt seen a blackbird, sparrow or dunnock in my garden for months. Then lo and behold, on Sunday a blackbird appeared and yesterday it was business as usual. Its almost as if they all get together at the end of breeding season and set a date in their diaries to come back lol.

Just to add to the above, this morning my garden is alive with birds and I've just seen a Nuthatch, a first taking me to 26 species on my garden list.

Took this vid footage yesterday in my garden, very busy on feeder I'm pleased to say & the Starlings seem to be returning although I do not get as many in the last couple of years as when I first started feeding the birds in the Winter of 2009!

Yes you're probably right Wendy. We have had some lovely weather the past few days. Even managed to shred my jumper yesterday! I'm pleased to say the Starlings seem to be starting to return. They come into the garden early morning and on an evening before they go to bed. Numbers are starting to increase. But still watching out for Blackbirds. I've ordered some goodies from Living With Birds to entice them back.

That's brilliant See Gull. I had a group of long-tailed tits visiting for the first time ever the other week. Another species ticked off the list.

Wendy, do you find that having a seed tray attached to a feeder attracts more birds? I have several feeders but no seed trays but then it could be a problem as the feral pigeons would probably be able to perch on there.

I used to feed sunflower seeds but switched to sunflower hearts in the hope that there wouldn't be as much waste but the greenfinches insist on spitting them all over! So might try getting a tray because there's a huge bare patch on the grass where birds feed below. Can always take it off if I find the feral pigeons are getting to the feeder.

So many people have problems with their neighbours. Why can't people just get along? Yes like you say, why live in a natural habitat for birds if you don't like them.

Our garden is bordered by tall dense Laurel shubs including spotted Laurel and it is definitely not a shrub I would have planted myself as it contains toxic (form of cyanide) and I've never seen birds eat the berries. Other flowers and plants do not do terribly well when planted around Laurels but despite this these shrubs command a high price in the nurseries. The only wildlife benefit (if you had to add one) is the screen cover it gives the birds to dive in to should a predator be around, and the fact the shrub is evergreen giving privacy all year round, other than that I wish we'd inherited Hawthorn hedging - and sparrows which we never see in our garden !! Yes, they have candle type white flowers in the springtime which do look attractive but not so much I would buy these shrubs myself when there are better alternatives.

Yes, ours have given the birds a sporting chance to escape from the Sparrowhawk, having said this I haven't seen a Sparrowhawk for months which is unusual.