Where have all the birds gone?!

[PestoPasghetti]

I'm feeling so creeped out this morning! I've been really busy the last couple of weeks, but up til then I was really aware of all the birds everywhere around the garden. This morning there are none. I can distantly hear a pigeon, a magpie, and a crow, and that's it. I should imagine that most are over the frenzy of raising their young now, but I did see a dead fledgling outside at work so I know not all the species will be finished, and anyway, surely birds have to eat? Why aren't they hopping about on the lawn and fluttering between bushes? I'm so afraid the answer is they're dying off because of the weather - lack of insects, shortage of seeds, heat, lack of water... We have a pond and a bird bath but I don't know if birds who hang out at the other end of the garden know about them. I put out bowls of water and food during the last heatwave, and they were keen on the food. I've just put some more out but I don't see any coming for it.

The garden is massive, about an acre, and fairly unkempt so it's not that they're put off by intensive 'gardening', and we're rarely out in it. We have had a family of magpies but they can't have finished off all the many sparrows and smaller birds can they?! Also, we've had no swallows back this year. They're normally swooping all over the place - I've only seen a handful all summer, and none back to their usual nests on my property. I feel so sad.

Has anyone else noticed the birds have disappeared? What's your theory?

Bird flu? My garden isn't massive, but I leave food and water out for the birds. I've noticed just in the past week that there aren't any birds, apart from a couple of wood pigeons. Strange.

my mum said this to me only yesterday…she puts out pears for the blackbirds everyday and then watches them fight over them….last few days she has seen x 1 fat pigeon and nothing else…,just disappeared….her neighbour says it’s bird flu

Every August birds disappear, then come back in September. Pretty sure they move to fields etc where there is plenty of food.

They all in my garden

I think that the recent heatwave was too much for them. Before that, plenty of birds. Since then a few pigeons and the local robin and nothing else.

Oh I hope you're right! I would have thought they have a territory though?

It would be so tragic if it's bird flu. Poor little things. I feel so helpless. I'm going to buy more bird food today, disinfect the bird table etc and hope it tempts them back. I don't normally feed them during the summer as there's normally a tonne of wild food.

Most birds moult at this time of year. When they lose a few wing feathers they are a little more vulnerable so they hide in the thicker hedges more than usual. Also, there are so many leaves on the trees you can't see them as easily as in the spring or early summer. I'm an avid bird spotter and struggle at this time of year to see much on a walk. My garden feeders are also devoid of visitors.

Our feeders still need filling daily so all ok here.

I'm filling mine every day too, they are messy buggers. The pigeons eat what they drop out the feeder.

Went to Slimbridge Wetlands Centre the other day, plenty of birds there. Saw a Swallow darting in and out of a hide, feeding the babies 4 all together in 1 nest.

Currently in Norfolk. The farmers have been harvesting their fields and all manner of bugs and beasties have turned up. Not many birds though. Even our regular pigeons aren’t here.

There was the exact same post this time last year so I guess they disappear off somewhere - perhaps the harvest? Always flocks of birds following ploughs etc

Loads here but we leave feeders

They are quite quiet around here at the moment. Hopefully things will pick up.
I do worry about avian flu though. Over the last few weeks I have seen a couple of dead birds. I have watched programmes about sea bird colonies being decimated. Humans certainly have a lot to answer for.

They're going through the summer moult. The robins who visits us had no tail feathers for a couple of weeks and couldn't fly well, now the blackbirds are losing theirs too and looking really scruffy. It's a hungry time for birds when they're growing new feathers so we put extra food out.

Angrily scolding my cats.

I have had more birds than ever. I live North though. I've got buzzards , lots of barn owls, woodpeckers , jays , sparrowhaws. I get woke everymorning by jackdaws. The sane with insect. Huge dragonflies plus grasshoppers. The only thing I have not seen I'd foxes that's because the local hunt scum are about.

I was just about to post the same question - my garden birds all disappeared at the start of August and, apart from one increasingly plump robin, have not come back! Good to know it's a normal thing and not just me?!

I'm in the North and have a lot of birds still, tits, robins, dunnocks, sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, siskins, finches, occasional sparrowhawk.
I've got 2 birdbaths, 1 at ground level and 1 raised one, i'm also feeding sunflower hearts which are very popular.

The sparrows that usually congregate in my garden are still awol. I miss them!

I'm on Dartmoor and there's plenty of birds everywhere here. I don't encourage them into my garden because we have cats but there are plenty out in the trees. Mr & Mrs Wood Pigeon have been there for years, lot's of magpies and smaller birds about. There have been a huge amount of dragonflies around the back of our houses this years and I've seen the birds chasing them about!

My mum lives a couple of streets away and her gardens are full of feeders, she always has loads of birds there, including a heron who wants to steal her koi carp but has been foiled by netting!

Well!!! The resident robin has just turned up again, after three months away. I know it's him because of his behaviour and funny quirks. Wild robins can live for a surprisingly long time. Early this morning there was a robin on the rose outside the window, staring in at me, and I did wonder. Then when I was bringing in the laundry, he appeared a few feet away and was staring again. I said one of 'his' words - 'worms' and he did a little bob of his tail, as usual.

This has been going on for nine years. He hangs around from autumn to early summer being fed live mealworms, introduces his mate, then once the young have fledged he buggers off for a few months. When he gets back, he'll be a bit nervous for a while, but still go to his usual perches in the garage and sit there expectantly.

One year he was away for nine months and I came across him in a garden I work in which is a few hundred metres away. I knew it was him then as well because he'd spot my car when I arrived and wait by it. He'd follow me about and the people there called me 'The Robin Lady'. When I was sure, I berated him loudly and at length, calling him a 'faithless little shit' for worrying me, and he didn't fly off but just sat there a few feet away, looking at me. After a few days he turned up here again.

Birds, such a worry.

Anyway, now the robin's back, the other birds will probably be along too. I've already noticed there are more tits and finches around.

@Handyweatherstation lovely!
I have my own blackbird who waits patiently for food and hangs around very close to me, almost within reach. Been here three years now.

@Handyweatherstation There was a lovely little cafe I went to back in the day, where a poor little one-legged robin used to hang out. Of course everyone took pity on him and offered him all their crumbs. When he'd polished them off his other leg popped down from where he'd hidden it in his feathers and off he went! Little varmint!

Think they’ve all popped over to my garden, bloody pigeons fighting on the green house roof top, the nosey little robin was following my husband round when he did some work, even sat on the barrow, and lots of little blackbirds pecking at the lawn.