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)

We are spending a fortune on bird food at the moment. We put out clean water every day and have real grass in our garden.

The downside is that I spent hours last weekend cleaning bird poo off the walls and patio, but that is a small price to pay.

I don't understand why people have artificial grass. apart from the negative effect on the environment it just looks awful.

Beautiful.

It may have gone down into the gutter because it resembled the nest contours. Or to hunker down from the sparrowhawk.

We have two hummingbird hawk moths on the tubs and baskets this evening. A most amazing insect whose name describes it perfectly. Plus one of those large triangular moths with the deep purple, petrol and yellow striped wings that are so richly coloured. I think the humidity is helping and once the wind turns from the north east to the usual south westerly we will see an explosion of birds, bees and butterflies. Just a few days now I think.

The moth I could not remember is a Scarlet Tiger - but it is huge.

No phone on me with the hummingbird hawk moth, but I have one from 2019 or 2020 I recall so will dig it out later and post it.

Chatillon · Yesterday 20:34

I'd never seen a hummingbird hawk moth until we moved to this house (Whitley Bay) about ten years ago. There was one in the back yard and by the time I got back with the camera, it was gone.

I see them all the time, often in numbers. There is a pink plant in many gardens in our street and one evening two years ago, there were (I estimate) about 50 around one patch.

Me and our daughter were watching them for ages, before they all flitted off.

That's really interesting @SinnerBoy

If you get a chance it might be worth taking a photo of the plant and uploading it to an app called PlantNet. This will identify the plant. I would love to know what it is because we could buy some. Ours was hovering around the fuchsias but they are one day wonders - we never see them again until a couple of years later and we might not see them again this year.

They are just like little hummingbirds and it feels uncanny to see one in the UK.

I buy my little sparrows waxworms, mealworms and morioworms from pets at home. They now know me and follow me around the garden. One is so clever it even follows me down the street 😄 It is kind of expensive but it brings me joy. I love seeing the new families increase in numbers every year so I see it as an investment 😊

Number of birds on the feeder has dropped off this week, I'm hoping it's because they're now finding food elsewhere.

We don't have any sparrows around here which feels really weird as they are such a common bird. We have lots of pied wagtails though.

We still get loads of birds in our garden - starlings, blackbirds, robins, goldfinches, wood pigeons, collared doves, sparrows and bluetits. Currently there is a flock of starlings there.

I ought to have shares in Wilkos as we buy so much bird food from them.

Chatillon · Today 10:22

If you get a chance it might be worth taking a photo of the plant and uploading it to an app called PlantNet.

I've got one called Seek, but I didn't think of that! Thanks, I'll give it a go.

Red Valerian!

I despair at all the new build estates, I know houses need to be built but I don't believe land is at such a premium as we are led to believe. It's greed. If we went back to the way houses used to be built post war for example with decent gardens, with room for a lawn, shrubbery and trees, we'd all be far better off.

I live on a new build estate. All of the houses have gardens. I have deliberately planted for wildlife.
The idiots who've covered theirs with fake grass and fake plants would have done that whether or not it was a new build.

New builds need heavy regulation.
expectations should be;

proper ecology reports before any development (small or big) and mitigations put in place for wildlife found.
solar panels on every roof or green roofs
rain water flushing toilets.
properly thought out planting in communal area (like the Beth chatto one).
hedgehog highways
bat boxes on houses
bird houses on houses
bee bricks
hedges not fences and any fences having holes for wildlife.
decent parking so people don’t have to use planted areas

Done properly they should be an ecological asset to an area not detrimental.

There are now net biodiversity requirements for all newbuild estates. Basically, you have to ensure that the estate will provide more biodiversity once built than was there before. It's something, although obviously developers will try and find loopholes and fudge it as much as humanly possible.

Hear hear veg.
There's a 3 year-old estate near me that has one car space per house, micro front garden and no electric charging. I honestly despair.

Which is exactly as it should be.
however I’ve yet to see it in practice.
New small development near me.
40 flats on a site where four large houses were. So old mature gardens.

the site had everything, adders, slow worms, stag beetles, red listed butterflies &moths, birds, hedgehogs, bats, owls. Pygmy shrews.

not even an ecological report done by the developer. It’s now replaced with 40 flats, with underground car parking. No Solar, no heat pump, nothing but flats locals couldn’t afford. and certainly zero mitigation for the wildlife that lived on that site despite being threatened and protected.

I actually believe the back garden developments do more localised biodiversity damage than the bigger scale ones and should be managed much more carefully than the free reign of “oh it’s just two or three houses where that house was”.

3 years. There should be no excuse.

I’ve got one near me that’s provided zero parking to discourage ownership.

however, it’s not london. Public transport is fairly good there, but still sketchy at anything other than weekday rush hour. So people still have cars they just park on the next roads (causing more issues) and that’s before you try to get a tradesman.

I retract my comment, about seeing plenty of birds. Having spent more time outside over summer, the only bird I’ve seen are magpies and the odd crow. Survival of the fittest.
Put some food on the lawn, out of curiosity it was taken immediately. They’ve now been coming up to the kitchen window asking for food. I have a lab so no mean feat.