My Mum has been feeding birds in her garden in Cornwall for a great many years. She gets loads of different visitors and has had sparrows nesting in her box for several years. She also gets plagued by large jackdaws, rooks and gulls, but the little birds all seem to cope with this, and she uses feeders with cages to help the situation. But as of last week she has not seen a single small garden bird in her garden AT ALL! She is getting upset because she can't understand where they have all gone. She has a range of foods on offer - including nyger seed, fat balls, household scraps and her usual mixed garden bird seed. What can have upset them? She is not aware of any particular changes, except that we straightened up her bird table 2 weeks ago as it was leaning a bit sideways.But surely this wouldn't affect the birds feeding off the other feeding stations around the garden? She has no new neighbours who might have started to feed the birds - she is the only one in her immediate vicinity with bird feeders. She has never had this happen before. Does anyone know what might have happened?
Hi Whitewing, This is a common reported observation over the winter months especially. There are several factors at play to a greater or lesser extent which can explain the mechanics behind this - certainly you moving the bird table will of had no effect. Far more likely is that the birds are already in established feeding routes and will be unlikely to take interest in the feeders until the breeding season kicks in. Over the coming weeks there will be huge movements amongst wild bird populations and new birds to the area will perhaps be more likely to take an interest. It is key though to ensure that the food is always fresh and appealing. change it fairly regular and if need be limit the amount of food put out. Only up the amount relative to the number of visitors you get.
Check out these pages on our main website for stacks of information relating to this very problem - where have all the birds gone?
Hope that helps!
Hi LloydScott,
THanks for taking the time to answer me. My mum feels a bit more relieved that this happens to others, even though she has never had it happen to her before. She is very sad about her empty nest box and table. She is away next week on holiday and says she is not going to put any more food out before she goes, to sort of give the big birds a break in the hopes that they go elsewhere. She has had more and more pigeons and crows over this winter and is convinced that has something to do with it. She is really missing all her little birds - none of them are visiting the garden at all. I hope they come back.