On 29/10/04 20:19, in article , "Kay"
wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes

Hmmm, again, not that I know of. We have lots of sparrows, blue tits,
wrens, tree creepers, great tits, the odd bullfinch, collared doves, wood
pigeons, thrushes, masses of blackbirds, some greenfinches, a lesser spotted
woodpecker, sparrowhawks, blast 'em, rooks, chaffinches, Little owls, robins
and jackdaws. What I have noticed in the 5 years I've known this place, is
a considerable decline in bird numbers but we have no idea why.

Whereas we've had a steady increase, both in numbers and species.

It's very strange - not your increase but the decline here. As far as we
know, nothing has changed in terms of habitat or feeding or predators. The
only thing is the sparrowhawks but I really don't think they can account for
this drop in numbers.
Blackbirds are the most numerous and thrush the least. I don't count the
rooks because the rookery is in the garden and we can hardly fail to notice
those!
But we used to see dozens of bluetits and chaffinches. The latter are still
fairly well seen but the former have definitely dropped off in numbers.
There are a lot of buzzards around, too but very rarely in the garden
itself, almost always in the fields behind us. The only time we've seen
them in the garden was last year during the drought period at the end of the
summer.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)