Lack of insects, birds starving

[noblegiraffe]

I'm seeing a lot of discussion on twitter about a distinct lack of insects this year, possibly due to the cold spring, but obviously pesticides are also an issue.

Birds who eat insects are really struggling and there are reports of baby birds dying because their parents can't feed them.

Please put food (and water) out for the birds! My bird feeder has been mobbed all week.

https://twitter.com/woodlandbirder/status/1662080648922779650?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g (warning: contains picture of dead chicks)

I no longer put up bird feeders as it would just be a cats picnic

Though my garden I think has an abundance of creepy crawlies

I've also noticed that the birds have been absolutely frantic on my feeder this year. I normally would refill about once a week and now it's finished in a day or two.

I also live on a new estate and every week I see another person getting their garden converted to astroturf. Really saddening.

I use no pesticides or herbicides at all and I have left a strip of lawn unmowed this year also.

I do wonder if the lack of insects this year in particular is in part due to the very cold snap in December. I know that last summer tick numbers were through the roof in Scotland as we'd had such a mild winter and things hadn't gone below freezing in most regions. In December things were -8 or colder for about ten days so that might have seen off a lot of insects?

Anyway thanks for the reminder, I'll be keeping my feeder stocked up.

My garden is a riot of plants. Bird feeders are the busiest I've seen them for a while. Fat balls are the favourite here. Coconut shells filled with fat and seeds are empty in a day. We're getting a lot of starlings. Plus magpies stealing the cats food which is funny to watch.

My garden is full of insects, birds and wildlife in general.
I deliberately grow plants that attract wildlife, it’s not difficult or expensive.
My big bird feeders get emptied in minutes by the starlings so I have ones for smaller birds dotted around as well as water and peanut butter feeders.
Slowworms are breeding in the three compost bins so DH is going to have to make yet another! The toads are in the greenhouse, lurking behind the tomato plants, at least they’ll polish off slugs and snails that dare get in there.

It is known that putting dried mealworms out at this time of year can be deadly for baby birds as they aren't getting enough moisture (as they would be getting from nice juicy worms).

I will try to link a relevant article.

I've had a couple of people on my local Facebook page asking where the swifts and swallows are.

It's very late to not have them yet

I live in a flat with no garden. I wish I could do more. 😔

You can get birdfeeders that have suckers to stick to the top windows. Cats can't reach and you get birds literally on your window.

So freaking cute.

I can't stop the cats from coming into my front garden but my backgarden is hopefully going to be a haven. We are setting up a pond and loads of plants. It's a slow process though, hopefully will be better by next year.

They're completely fucking stupid?

(Cue eleventy hundred people telling me that everyone who has plastic grass is a disabled war veteran who can't use a mower or afford a gardener, but can afford £1000s for plastic grass "landscaping")

It's a poisonous solution to an non-existent problem.

There are almost no butterflies at the moment, it's quite sobering.

I haven't seen a swift or swallow this year; haven't heard a cuckoo (rural East Anglia). Very worrying.

I've noticed this too. Saw my first butterfly of the season yesterday so crossing fingers that it is a delayed spring due to the late cold snap / snow.

There are swifts in London and the East Midlands and some swallows in the East Midlands too, but I haven't heard a cuckoo for years.

How can we attract more birds in our garden? We have a bird table, hanging seed a bird (and bee) bath. So far we've only had 2 fat pigeons a magpie and an occasional blackbird. I'd love to have more birds in our garden. We feed all year round. My dads garden is a who's who of the bird world!

Let some bits go wild so there's bugs for them to eat.

I agree with your last sentence!

I’ve had the most success with sunflower hearts. I’ve had fat balls go mouldy, mixed seed untouched, but a queue of birds for the sunflower hearts. Goldfinches especially, which is lovely.

@DataNotLore we've left a wild patch and we're doing no mow so will leave a patch when we do mow the lawn. Our garden is fairly new so we're building up our plants. All pollinators we'd love as many bugs, bees butterflies and birds as possible!

I may need to put an ad in the daily bird to let them know we're here 😬

I am not convinced this a new thing though. When I was younger I was not in the slightest bit interested in gardening or gardens. Then I hit mid-30s and now I'm discovering the benefits of pottering the in the garden, am enjoying spotting insects, and joke I am finally turning into my mum!

I think some of it may be down to reaching the point of having the stability and money to invest in your own space.

We have a rat problem locally (we back onto a railway line plus some other local issues), what would be the best way to put food out for the birds without feeding/attracting the rats? I love seeing birds in our garden, we do have trees and shrubs they seem to like but I'd be happy to help more if it can be done without getting overrun with rats!

I’ve made an effort this year with planting stuff which is meant to attract bees and other insects.

for the birds I put out, fat blocks, fat balls, sunflower hearts, Niger seeds and mixed premium birdseed. They love the fat blocks and balls the best, then the mixed seed, then the sunflower hearts and lastly the Niger seeds.

I don’t see any finches, just sparrows, tits, blackbirds, thrushes, crows, jackdaws and starlings and wood pigeons. The odd robin.

We spent 2h in the car yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised with the level of bug splatter on the windscreen.

We’ve just done no mow May in our back garden and I’ve never seen so many insects, loads of lovely wildflowers that have come through! We’ll be doing it again next year, and topping up the bird feeders!

The birds do seem a lot more hungry than in previous years. I cannot afford to keep filling up the feeders! They are emptying it almost daily.

I wish I could afford bird feeder. I will take a look in Home Bargains Thursday and try to justify one bird feeder a week. This is all very worrying.