Where are all the birds?

[Two_Sheds]

A robin has just started visiting us ...you can feed robins on fat, cheese, sultanas, breadcrumbs, and cake, but their favourite food is mealworms (from reptile shops).

I hated the shrubs in my new front garden, but the birds are using them as perches so they can stay.

[Two_Sheds]

It's really early, I'm so tired but can't sleep ...
but all the birds are just getting up, so I don't mind so much. I can hear something tweeting sweetly (not robin, not blackbird, seagull, cockatiel*, nor starling - that's the extent of my birdsong identification skills)

* there was an escapee on the roof yesterday, silly beggar wouldn't come down to be caught though

[Flummery]

The spadgers are back in the village this last weekend. From having a full seed feeder which stayed full for weeks, it was emptied in a few hours. I love all the LBJs. (Little Brown Jobs!)

[nelliegemini]

After having no birds (apart from a death wish crow) for months, this weekend has been full of madly hysterical, twittering, flapping and generally gorgeous long tailed tits. I hear them coming - a really high pitched tsee tsee, then the mob arrive. They are hilarious to watch, like kids let out of school. There are usually a couple of other varieties of tits with them. Maximum was 8 long tailed tits on two feeders. Loveley lovely

[Two_Sheds]

Nellie, show us some pix of your tits - they're so cute!

[Two_Sheds]

After watching Bill Oddie last night, me wants a raven
Mr Sheds won't let me leave a sheep's carcass on the front lawn though

[nelliegemini]

Nellie, show us some pix of your tits - they're so cute!

I'll try tomorrow, off to work now and I can hear them but not see them.

And I am glad we all act like adults on this forum - well done to all who resisted

[Snadger]

Nellie, show us some pix of your tits - they're so cute!

Pardon!

[nelliegemini]

Pardon!

You didn't resist, go on admit it - everyone else did, even I did.

[aud]

Oh Two sheds thats a beauty of a picture of my fav bird.

[HayleyB]

We've got hundreds of birds in our hedges, haven't a clue what they all are cause they spend all day in there arguing like mad - continuously they make a right old racket - must spend some time and watch the feeders to see what they are.

[Snadger]

You didn't resist, go on admit it - everyone else did, even I did.

Sorry........it just had to be said!

[nelliegemini]

Sorry........it just had to be said!

I know, I know, .....

What I need to do is set up a really good camera with split second timing on the bird feeders. All I got is this old digital and the damn things are so flighty I can't catch them. Course yesterday we had a nuthatch in charge, and today the Robin moved in so it's a bit tricky trying to photograph the damn things - but hey, I will keep trying.

[Seabreeze]

Hello all,

Seabreeze - cats are NOT the reason our feathered friends' numbers are declining! (You can even ask the RSPB) I think you'll find farming and many (not all) of its modern methods are responsible - if you change a species' habitat and food chain, inevitably you change its population. Some birds' numbers have risen steeply in the past 20 years or so, but most have gone down. It has nothing to do with cats.

Anyway,since this seems to be a "show and tell" for birds, here is what we have now or have had this summer - all are pretty plentiful unless indicated:

blackbird
blue tit
great tit (nesting in stable wall)
starling (nesting in stable roof)
coal tit
rook
crow
magpie
jackdaw
sparrow
starling (insatiable appetite)
robin
thrush (rare)
lesser and greater spotted woodpecker (one lives in giant oak a few yards away)
green woodpecker
jay
wood pigeon
collared dove
swallow (at dusk they would fly right around me as if I wasn't there!)
chaffinch
green finch
heron
sparrow hawk (comes in across the fields at dusk - rare though)
brown owl - obviously never seen, only heard (thought we had lost them but still around - sounded so loud the other night I swear one of them was sitting on the edge of the bed!)
barn owl - actually saw it driving back from the pub at night - massive!
pheasant (3 or 4 are always plodding around the lawn - we have a large shoot just down the road)
nuthatch (very proud of IDing him through my bird book - the only bird we have that walks down trees head first!)

sure i missed one or 2 but that's it off the top of my head.

I should add that until I started putting out food, not much came into the garden. I guess if you're a bird, why go somewhere where there's nothing to eat? I am now getting through about 15-20 fat balls a week, plus untold feeders full of peanuts and seed!

I live in an old farmhouse in Kent with garden bordering fields and woodland - yes there is still some countryside left in the South East - so I guess if I don't see birds then we should REALLY start to worry!

Kind regards,

Nick

Hi Nick...

As a long time birder (birdwatcher) over almost 50 years, child member of the YOC, adult / current RSPB, a former ornithological club excursions sec., Bird Observatory committee member for 7 years.. and someone from a completely rural background - I'm very well aware of, and agree completely with what you say about habitat loss. However... believe it or not, cats do take a huge toll in the number of mainly 'garden birds' - literally millions per annum. The RSPB quite rightly has habitat conservation as a top priority. To make a public issue about the menace of pet cats might not be good for membership. ;-)

best regards,

Keith
Garden bird list of 128 species, 'in and from'. White Stork and Red Kite 'flyovers' were new for 2008

[daleclarke]

cats are NOT the reason our feathered friends' numbers are declining!

I am afraid within the suburbia, Cats are the reason for a lack of wildlife and it is now being investigated deeper. In our local area (Block) we have as much as 10 cats fighting over territory and the carnage and noise has become a nuisance and the council are looking into restraining orders. They have destroyed among things my fleeces several times and knocked over bird tables, nevermind the defication and scratching on friut trees.

This is taken from the mammal society survey, it makes bad reading especially when you realise it is only over 5 months and animals they bring home.

1. A questionnaire survey of the numbers of animals brought home by domestic cats Felis catus was conducted between 1st April and 31st August 1997. A total of 14370 prey items were brought home by 986 cats living in 618 households. Mammals made up 69% of the items, birds 24%, amphibians 4%, reptiles 1%, fish <1%, invertebrates 1% and unidentified items 1%. A minimum of 44 species of wild bird, 20 species of wild mammal, 3 species of reptile and 3 species of amphibian were recorded.
2. Of a sample of 696 individual cats, 634 (91%) brought home at least one item and the back-transformed mean number of items brought home by was 11.3 (95% CI 10.4-12.2). The back-transformed means and number of cats retrieving at least one item from each prey group were: 8.1 (7.4-8.9) mammals for 547 (79%) cats, 4.1 (3.8-4.5) birds for 506 (73%) cats, 2.6 (1.8-2.7) herpetofauna for 145 (21%) cats and 2.2 (1.8-2.7) other items for 98 (14%) cats.
3. The number of birds and herpetofauna brought home per cat was significantly lower in households that provided food for birds. The number of bird species brought home was greater in households providing bird food. The number of birds and herpetofauna brought home per cat was negatively related to the age and condition of the cat. The number of mammals brought home per cat was significantly lower when cats were equipped with bells and when they were kept indoors at night. The number of herpetofauna brought home was significantly greater when cats were kept in at night.
4. Based on the proportion of cats bringing home at least one prey item and the back-transformed means, a British population of approximately 9 million cats was estimated to have brought home in the order of 92 (85-100) million prey items in the period of this survey, including 57 (52-63) million mammals, 27 (25-29) million birds and 5 (4-6) million reptiles and amphibians.
5. An experimental approach should be taken to investigate the factors found by this descriptive survey to influence the numbers of prey brought home by cats. In particular, investigation of potential management practices that could reduce the numbers of wild animals killed and brought home by cats will be useful for wildlife conservation, particularly in suburban areas.