Are your garden birds AWOL?

[FGSWhatNow]

Don't know whether it's the unseasonably warm weather recently or what, but I don't seem to have many birds visiting the garden atm. I've been wfh this morning and, apart from one plucky little robin, I've seen nothing on the feeders at all. The bird food isn't going down half as quick as it used to. Anyone else noticed the same?

We had a quiet spell a few weeks ago but the feeders have been busier then ever since the weather went a bit colder. One of our lovely little blue tits risked a late hatch this year so she's been visiting right through and now comes with her three babies (bigger than mum because she's so tiny)

Yes, I've noticed a decline, not helped by the neighbours ripping their hedge out in favour of a boring fence.

I tried to feed them, and even fed flies during the heatwave to try and keep everything alive during the heatwave, but I'm worried that a lot would have been wiped out then.

Mine are all going strong. We have a hedge and I also feed regularly and their population seems to have exploded this year. Do you think bird flu is in your area? It's worrying but all you can do is focus on making your garden as much of a haven as possible!

Yes I’ve noticed a dramatic decrease in garden birds the last few weeks, am worried that bird flu has killed them off. All I have in my garden is pigeons, magpies and crows. 😢

Yes, we also only have magpies and crows. This area used to be full of parakeets and they have all disappeared.

We have lots here- all kinds.
I only feed small birds, and it has been very frosty here.
In fact I need to buy more bird food.

Hm, bird flu could be a possibility though - we're in a control zone or maybe the hot weather over the summer...

We usually have loads of assorted tits, finches, blackbirds, wrens, sparrows, dunnocks, black caps... not a sausage today. Even the bloody pigeons have fucked off! There's usually one or two blundering about under the bird feeders but nothing so far today...

How do you keep rodents away from bird seed, I’d like to put more out but can’t bear thought!

Thinking about it, the pigeons do a great job of hoovering up all the seeds that the other birds spill out of the feeders, so perhaps as there's not many little birds visiting there's not a much for the pigeons to forage?

Down in the South we've had good days like today but it's been so wet the birds don't show up those days. I keep feeding them and hoping they'll show up

We have a little mouse or possibly several that lives under the hedge, it darts in and out to the bird table like a little clockwork toy😊

Our garden is definitely quieter although I noticed this during the crazy rains last year they started coming back when it got cold and dry. I just checked my feeders yesterday because they were still half full and the seeds have started sprouting in the rain!

Yes it's been soooo wet and miserable here, for what feels like ages. We need a cold snap to flush all the birds out! Seriously though, I'd wondered if the weather was making it easier to find food or in the wild, so they weren't being tempted into the gardens as much.

I had to chuck away half a feeder full of peanuts as they'd gone rotten...

We noticed a big drop off in the summer after the really hot days, and we haven’t seen any of the more unusual birds (goldfinches, nuthatches, jays) but we have a growing number returning now. I filled the feeders on Sunday and there were loads of visits.

We’ve had a sparrow hawk nesting close by and killing the pigeons so that might be another reason we’ve not had the same number of visitors - although they have been nesting for the last 4 summers and we’ve not noticed such a significant drop previously.

Still having to top the feeders up most days here, the nuthatch is currently making like a banana on the peanut feeder as I think something startled him. The blue tits and the long tails always let me know when their feed is running low as they tap on the windows.

How lovely, @bloodywhitecat ! The long tailed tits are my favourite, I had 22 down at once over the summer. I love their chattering, I often hear them before I see them.

My birds have disappeared too! I'm in Kent. I've also had to throw away mouldy food. I wondered whether it was next door's cat (who I like) putting them off but he's been around for a year. Squirrels are still active.

We're surrounded by fields and woodland but they still come to the feeders all year round. I guess it's an easy access food source for them.

That's funny. I realised the other day that our squirrels have disappeared. We had at least 3 coming into the garden daily at one point in the spring to raid what they could from the bird feeders but they all disappeared over the summer and haven't come back. Obviously as an invasive species I shouldn't be too sad about it but they were very sweet to watch!

They've just come back here about 2 weeks ago. Started with a Robin and now the starlings! It was definitely quiet and bird free for a while in the autumn. The bird food went rotten as nothing ate it!
Now all replenished and the birds are everywhere.

We had a bit of a bird dry spell last month or so - my squirrel proof feeders were still full and either mouldy or sprouting, which was very unusual. I've swapped some stuff around and the squirrel has emptied the non-squirrel proof feeders and I've just this morning seen a robin and some tits, as well as two magpies and two crows.

Bloody loads here but I live in a Sussex twitten with massive and very old hedges in front of my little lane. They all chatter in the bay tree next to my living room window just before dusk - it's lovely.

I was out digging yesterday and there were all the usual birds around. They always turn up when I've done some proper gardening

Loads here but massive garden surrounded by hedges including beech, hawthorn, dog rose and hornbeam. Plus loads of trees. We have so many birds. At dusk it's quite magical watching and listening to them roosting for the night 😊