Shortage of small birds

[Clitheroekid]

Has anyone else noticed a shortage of small birds, like sparrows, finches, tits and so on?

The reason I noticed was that I recently bought a bird table, and I've been disappointed by the lack of visitors. Admittedly, it's not in a brilliant location (an enclosed yard) but it made me start looking around generally to see where the birds were, and I was surprised that there just seem to be relatively few at all, certainly compared to the normal population.

There are plenty of larger birds, like crows of various types, and pigeons, but I'm really surprised at how few small birds there are.

I wonder if it's linked to a remarkable lack of insects that I've also noticed over the last two or three years, even in high summer. When we were kids 50 years ago our back garden was full of butterflies and other insects, but nowadays there seem to be far fewer. Another comparison is that you hardly ever have to clean insects off the windscreen nowadays. Again going back to when we were kids, and driving from Lancashire to Cornwall, I remember my dad having to stop two or three times to clean the windscreen of splattered insect life.

It even extends to nuisances like flies in the house. On a summer's day a few years ago leaving doors and windows open inevitably meant lots of irritating insect life to be evacuated, but not nowadays.

And although most of my experience is in semi-rural Lancashire I've found exactly the same phenomenon travelling all over the country. I often visit a friend's house in Pangbourne with a large garden, and it's exactly the same there. Most people haven't noticed until I point it out and then they agree with me. I think it's because it's been a very gradual process rather than an overnight change.

From a purely selfish point of view I don't miss the majority of insects, which I generally dislike, but I do realise they're a necessary part of the equation and they also obviously provide food for birds.

It may be that it's just a temporary phenomenon. Although it's been generally quite sunny here for the past few weeks it's been cold, so I'm hoping that once it warms up there will be at least a partial reappearance, but it's really quite worrying.

[Dod101]

In West Perthshire today, although there was a very cold easterly wind, we had a lot of birdlife, coal tits, blue tits, chaffinches (various) some sparrows and then the woodpecker. Despite the cold there were clouds of midges (I think) Anyway lots of tiny flying insects and the other day saw Red Admiral butterflies which I have not seen for years, so I think our birdlife is alive and well.

Dod

[ReformedCharacter]

I concur about the apparent decline in insects. As a (ex) beekeeper I have read for at least the last two decades about the detrimental effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honeybee colonies. It has now become more apparent that the same pesticides have had a much more deleterious effect on many species of smaller insects that we do not normally pay much attention to. And that is just one of - no doubt - many causes of insect population decline.

There are more than a million species of insect, compared with just 5,400 mammals, and they are the cornerstone of all terrestrial ecosystems. Without them, you get what scientists call a “bottom-up trophic cascade”, in which the knock-on effects of the insect collapse surge up through the food chain, wiping out higher animals. And without healthy ecosystems, there is no clean air and water.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... g-about-it

I live in a small village in Cornwall and many of the local human population feed birds and the number and variety of birds seem fairly healthy but I would guess that is mainly due to the fact that so many people feed them. I grew up in Bristol and remember sparrows so numerous that a passing car would send clouds of them airborne but it isn't like that now, they've been in decline for some decades:

In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conser ... -sparrows/

As for butterflies, our garden in Bristol would be full of them sometimes but now I see only a few in my garden in Cornwall, a few Cabbage Whites, Tortoiseshells and Common Blues.

It's all rather sad

Without wishing to enter the Brexit debate, I believe that much harm has been done to our wildlife by following the Common Agricultural Policy and the farm subsidy system. I hope that in the future the custodians of our land will be more incentivised to care for our environment and wildlife.

RC

[midnightcatprowl]

The drop in the number of insects around is actually terrifying even if most people don't realise it yet. It's a sign of the dramatic breakdown of our environment which threatens all life on earth which includes humans. Like you I don't particularly instinctively like many insects, particularly flies, but by getting interested in them I have taught myself to be positive about them. Like you I'm old enough to remember the dramatic effects of 'fly squash' on vehicles in the summer time particularly if you did any sort of long distance trip. Sheffield to Newcastle and Bedford to Newcastle which I used to do regularly, produced what was pretty much a black shield of squashed insect over the front of my vehicle. It was hateful to remove but the current lack of it is more disturbing than the job of washing it off!

I still see a lot of small birds in my tiny garden (a lot of larger ones too!) but I've been consistently feeding for decades now and deliberately planted and allowed to grow pretty much as it wishes, with only the mildest pruning, a native mixed species hedge and let a cobnut tree grow to full height (fortunately the neighbour on that side is very tolerant!). There's also Winter Jasmine and a now quite big holly and something else, a shrub, the name of which I can't remember but which brings forth copious yellow flowers in spring. I also refrain from pulling out/cutting down the early suppliers of pollen such as dandelion - if you feel agitated by dandelion (actually they are rather beautiful) just bear in mind that the young leaves are edible by humans and highly nutritious and the whole plant is hugely beneficial to a range of insects. I try to be tolerant of useful weeds and to deliberately plant things with 'simple' flowers which the insects can actually access - herbs tend to be good for this with the side effect of also being useful in the kitchen. Before I plant anything I'm asking myself - is this really useful or just showily 'posh' but otherwise sterile?

I would just say that many people try to feed birds in otherwise sterile environments and it doesn't really work. The small birds, for example, need a hedge or a tree or dense shrub into which they can dive for shelter. Grow a decently tall and thick hedge or a dense shrub for example and you'll be rewarded by house sparrows which are in severe decline. Birds will take advantage of good quality food if you put it out but they will also automatically forage - birds like blue tits and great tits will look under every leaf and along the tops of your windows for tiny grubs and spiders eggs and such both for themselves and for their chicks. Even small gestures such as refraining from excessive window cleaning in the breeding season can help. Windows don't ever get that dirty in climates where it rains - clean them outside in the Autumn not the Spring!

I always feel I'm fighting many of my neighbours in the same short road. Some of them have put of a variety of nest boxes and feeders but can't resist the endless application of pesticides and weed killers and panic at the sight of even the most benign of bee type creatures and have their gardens paved over, and then they are surprised that the nest boxes are unused and much of the food rots in the feeders. (There are also issues about the choice of foods going in the feeders of course - some things sold as 'bird food' are a total rip-off).

We used to regularly get hedgehogs in our back gardens but then people got obsessed with high impenetrable fences and hedgehogs depend on access to a wide ranging area - without this they may not just starve but they don't breed as they don't get to meet enough members of the opposite sex.

We're killing our planet - we're killing our lifeboat and the other creatures on our lifeboat. You can fight back a bit as I do by doing the best you can in your own place but we need far more people to wake up and smell the coffee!

[supremetwo]

Has anyone else noticed a shortage of small birds, like sparrows, finches, tits and so on?

The reason I noticed was that I recently bought a bird table, and I've been disappointed by the lack of visitors. Admittedly, it's not in a brilliant location (an enclosed yard) but it made me start looking around generally to see where the birds were, and I was surprised that there just seem to be relatively few at all, certainly compared to the normal population.

There are plenty of larger birds, like crows of various types, and pigeons, but I'm really surprised at how few small birds there are.
--------------------------------

Plenty of those small birds here but I've had to enclose my feeders inside mesh cages, otherwise the corvids scoffed the lot as soon as they were refilled.

Then I had to fix the hanging feeders inside to a central position as the crows found that they could reach by perching on one side.

Caused much indignant cawing when two landed on opposite sides before that fix.

[tjh290633]

I don't see any significant reduction in the bird population. The relative abundance of species certainly varies, I haven;'t seen a house sparrow for years now and they used to be about. Also greenfinches have fallen in numbers, we used to get 10 or 12 of them at a time, now 2 or 4 is the most.

They do take time to find new sources of food. It's a bit like tramps finding a house with a soft touch. Word has to get around. My neighbour was away for a week and he commented that it took a while for the birds to come back to their feeders. Cover nearby is important. Ours spend most of their time flitting between feeders and nearby cover. Bigger birds can put them off as well. Sparrow hawks are the worst, but magpies, jays, etc, keep them away. Woodpigeons and collared doves have no effect.

The other need is to put a range of feeders out. I have two with black sunflower seed and two with peanuts, plus some wild bird mix in tray feeders. My neighbour puts out sunflower hearts and others may use nijer seed, which goldfinches love.

Cats sitting underneath the feeders waiting for a meal are a deterrent to the birds, of course.

TJH

[Clitheroekid]

I would just say that many people try to feed birds in otherwise sterile environments and it doesn't really work. The small birds, for example, need a hedge or a tree or dense shrub into which they can dive for shelter.

I think that may well explain the lack of visitors to my bird table. It hadn't occurred to me when I put it there, but from an avian point of view I suppose it is a bit like a concrete gulag, so thanks for pointing this out. I'll try and find somewhere rather more conducive.

Though thinking about it the yard area is pretty depressing as it stands, and serves no real purpose, so I wonder if rather than take the table out of the yard would it make sense to try and introduce plants into the yard, thereby making it more attractive and offering cover for birds at the same time.

The problem with this is that firstly the yard is to the north side of the building, so gets very little direct sunlight; and secondly I know bu**er all about gardening, so wouldn't have a clue what sort of plants to put there, when to plant them or even how to plant them - for example, should they be in tubs or planted in the ground? Would creepers be a good idea to cover the rather stark looking walls, but would they even grow with not much sunlight?

My ignorance of such matters is truly encyclopaedic!

Do you think it likely that the local garden centre would be able to advise? If not, where would be the best place to obtain such advice?

[tikunetih]

Without wishing to enter the Brexit debate, I believe that much harm has been done to our wildlife by following the Common Agricultural Policy and the farm subsidy system. I hope that in the future the custodians of our land will be more incentivised to care for our environment and wildlife.

Sorry, not very likely.

Far more likely is that, freed of EU chains, we accelerate the already-occurring trend of adopting the US industrial farming model, which will prove devastating for the environment:

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... farms-iowa

“The system has been set up for the benefit of the factory farm corporations and their shareholders at the expense of family farmers, the real people, our environment, our food system”

"It’s a story replicated across America’s midwest, with the rapid expansion of farming methods at the heart of the row over US attempts to erode Britain’s food standards and lever open access to the UK market as part of a post-Brexit trade deal. Last weekend, the US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, appealed to the UK to embrace US farming, arguing that those who warned against practices such as washing chicken in chlorine had been “deployed” to cast it “in the worst possible light”."

Read it and weep. It's what people voted for.

[madhatter]

... and something else, a shrub, the name of which I can't remember but which brings forth copious yellow flowers in spring.

Forsythia?

Quite a few large bumblebees, and in the last few years leafcutter bees, for which I have bundled together some lengths of bamboo. Not many flowers in the garden in summer compared to the masses of blossom in spring, though I have been trying to add more. Did see stag beetles last year.

I don’t see as many interesting insects but put that down to the fact that I don’t crawl around as much as I used to.

[scotia]

No shortage of small birds in our garden, close to the Campsies in Central Scotland. We have lots of bushes and a tree which offer perches and cover. We have feeders with sunflower kernels, peanuts and suet balls. We also place Lidl Muesli on the ground. The small birds we see are chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, sparrows, dunnocks, blue tits, coal tits and great tits. We usually have a solitary robin, and sometimes two - which leads to quarrels and an armistice line through the middle of the garden. We occasionally see bullfinches, long tailed tits and wrens. The larger birds are starlings, blackbirds and woodpigeons. In severe weather, we get crows, magpies, and jackdaws - but they don't like the enclosed nature of the garden. The number of (house) sparrows is increasing, after having virtually disappeared. The greenfinch numbers seem to have decreased, and the goldfinch numbers have increased. The suet balls are the favourite food, with starlings hogging the feeder, and agile sparrows getting their share. Next favourite is the sunflower hearts, with the peanuts being a poor third. The blackbirds, dunnocks and woodpigeons appreciate the muesli on the ground.
We used to have collared doves, but I haven't seen them for a few years.

[bungeejumper]

No shortage of small birds in our garden (west Wilts), except that we don't seem to have nearly so many wrens these days. Wrens are susceptible to harsh winters, of course, but although we've had really deep snowfalls these last two winters they haven't really lasted long enough to be a serious threat to the poor little things. Maybe ours have just moved back out into the hedgerows to avoid the two rather athletic cats which have taken over our manor?

One thing I have certainly noticed is that we seem to have far more buzzards and little owls around the place these days, and it's a pretty common occurrence that the assembled birds at the bird table suddenly scatter as a raptor comes into view. We don't have many red kites (yet), but there's been an explosion of magpies, which are of course serial nest raiders.

We used to regularly get hedgehogs in our back gardens but then people got obsessed with high impenetrable fences and hedgehogs depend on access to a wide ranging area - without this they may not just starve but they don't breed as they don't get to meet enough members of the opposite sex.

Could be, but I think roadkill is also a likely cause these days. They tell me that foxes are also getting smarter about the technique for killing a hedgehog. (Roll it about, step back and wait for it to walk away, then grab it by the underside.) Then again, I don't think slug bait is a very healthy addition to their preferred diet.

Come on, swallows!

BJ

[dspp]

Plenty of birds hereabouts in Dorset. of all sizes.

Saw eight buzzards circling this morning, so the ninth has gone some where.

Oddly saw a solitary goose - which we think was a greylag - in the top sheep field the other evening. Just pootling around amongst the lambs and ewes. Quite happy to tolerate us walking through. Not seen it before or since.

- dspp

[tea42]

I live about 5 miles from Pangbourne in the centre of a village and there are plenty of small birds here...

We gave a resident Robin
We have a gang of noisy resident sparrows
We have resident wren
Goldfinches sing from the highest branches and aerials
A gang of starlings
Blue tits, Coal tits and long tailed tits come to the fat balls hanging from the bird table
Greenfinches seem to have declined
So have chaffinches

In addition we have blackbirds and thrushes, collared doves, wood pigeons, jackdaws, crows, rooks, magpies
In the summer there are swifts, swallows and house martins.
Bats at sunset and at least 3 different sorts of owls calling after dark

And..at any time of day there are red kites wheeling above, sometimes a dozen.

Occasionally we get sparrowhawks, mostly eating blackbirds, they just leave the bill.

If you keep putting food out birds will come, if you stop, they will stop

[JoyofBrex8889]

Without wishing to enter the Brexit debate, I believe that much harm has been done to our wildlife by following the Common Agricultural Policy and the farm subsidy system. I hope that in the future the custodians of our land will be more incentivised to care for our environment and wildlife.

Sorry, not very likely.

Far more likely is that, freed of EU chains, we accelerate the already-occurring trend of adopting the US industrial farming model, which will prove devastating for the environment:

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... farms-iowa

“The system has been set up for the benefit of the factory farm corporations and their shareholders at the expense of family farmers, the real people, our environment, our food system”

"It’s a story replicated across America’s midwest, with the rapid expansion of farming methods at the heart of the row over US attempts to erode Britain’s food standards and lever open access to the UK market as part of a post-Brexit trade deal. Last weekend, the US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, appealed to the UK to embrace US farming, arguing that those who warned against practices such as washing chicken in chlorine had been “deployed” to cast it “in the worst possible light”."

Read it and weep. It's what people voted for.

That is not true.

[Dod101]

I would not want to get into a discussion about the politics of farming, but back on topic, I had not thought about it when I wrote my earlier post, but my garden is surrounded by relatively high dense hedging and trees so plenty of cover for small birds. In addition to the species I quoted, I have several wrens, a couple of robins, a tree creeper, and I think a siskin or two. I am in a semi rural location with a lot of farmed fields and pastureland around me. I do not think the farming methods are affecting the bird life in my garden.

Dod

[XFool]

Sorry, not very likely.

Far more likely is that, freed of EU chains, we accelerate the already-occurring trend of adopting the US industrial farming model, which will prove devastating for the environment:

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... farms-iowa

“The system has been set up for the benefit of the factory farm corporations and their shareholders at the expense of family farmers, the real people, our environment, our food system”

"It’s a story replicated across America’s midwest, with the rapid expansion of farming methods at the heart of the row over US attempts to erode Britain’s food standards and lever open access to the UK market as part of a post-Brexit trade deal. Last weekend, the US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, appealed to the UK to embrace US farming, arguing that those who warned against practices such as washing chicken in chlorine had been “deployed” to cast it “in the worst possible light”."

Read it and weep. It's what people voted for.

That is not true.

That is an intriguingly ambiguous statement.

[AleisterCrowley]

I live about 5 miles from Pangbourne in the centre of a village and there are plenty of small birds here...

We gave a resident Robin
We have a gang of noisy resident sparrows
We have resident wren
Goldfinches sing from the highest branches and aerials
A gang of starlings
Blue tits, Coal tits and long tailed tits come to the fat balls hanging from the bird table
Greenfinches seem to have declined
So have chaffinches

In addition we have blackbirds and thrushes, collared doves, wood pigeons, jackdaws, crows, rooks, magpies
In the summer there are swifts, swallows and house martins.
Bats at sunset and at least 3 different sorts of owls calling after dark

And..at any time of day there are red kites wheeling above, sometimes a dozen.

Occasionally we get sparrowhawks, mostly eating blackbirds, they just leave the bill.

If you keep putting food out birds will come, if you stop, they will stop

I'm in the same sort of area (4 miles south of Pangbourne)in a large 'village'

I see (and hear ) plenty of collared doves and pigeons
Magpies, but not as many as Slough where I used to reside
Crows aplenty, likewise blackbirds
Loads of red kites, but not many other raptors - did see a buzzard (I think) when I was walking along the Kennet last week

Lots of gulls around Calcot Sainsbury's - must be good scavenging ground (mostly black-headed I think, but my gull identification is ropey)

very few smaller birds, just the occasional robin and blue tit.

[88V8]

The excessive and growing human population is killing many things, but most people don't really care. Future generations will revile us for our selfish stupidity and our failure to crush the PC imbeciles who won't even entertain discussion of the matter.

Nothing new.. From 2016 for instance https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... port-shows
'It is quite shocking where we stand compared to the rest of the world, even compared to other western European countries: France and Germany are quite a way above us in the rankings' and no wonder when Germany has half our population density and France less than one third.

It's no accident that the most densely populated county - Surrey - was recently reported as having the UK's greatest rate of species extinction.

The thought that Rees Mogg with his six children seeks to become PM makes my blood boil.

Do I sound slightly peeved.....

Meanwhile..... in a part of the country not yet trashed by 'development' we have a good bird habitat, surrounded by grazed farmland, bit of arable, mature oaks, hawthorn, hedges, few acres of covert up the lane, and our half acre garden densely planted, no paving.
We feed Vine House Farm high energy mix with suet, about a cwt a year from one table. Plus a tube of peanuts.
There is a bird bath a few feet away from the table and plenty of shrub shelter. The bird bath is on a wood platform about 4ft above ground and amongst shrubs, so they feel safe.

Since we started feeding daily, more and more birds have come. They are so keen at the moment that two robins and a couple of the bolder blue tits fly onto the table while I am still loading it which I do every day at the same time. Regular feeding is key, I think, and choosing something they like. If no luck with one food, try another.
Vine House deliver next day.
https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/https:/ ... arm.co.uk/

V8

[Gengulphus]

Vine House deliver next day.
https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/https:/ ... arm.co.uk/

You've overfed that link - a slimmed-down https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/ is healthier! ;-)

Gengulphus

[tea42]

Reading 88V8s post, we have a bird table, a ground feeder, a small pond and a bird bath. There is also a dusty border for dust baths which the sparrows seem to love. Adjacent to the table is an enormous Bay Tree providing great cover for small birds.
Last year my wife became disabled and stopped feeding the birds. It was she who always fed the birds. They disappeared. I started feeding them again in the winter and gradually they came back, but it took time.

The message is that if you want to enjoy seeing birds feed them regularly and create other attractions like cover, water, a dust bath and a ground feeder.