On Wed, 12 Mar 2003 21:48:48 +0000 (UTC), "Barry Watts"
wrote:

Thanks for all the responses to this. I am very interested indeed to hear
that some areas quite close to me, in Woodford, Essex, are experiencing a
similar phenomenon, while others, not that far away, are getting lots of
visitors. I am fairly close to Epping Forest here, so expect quite a few
visitors. I've seen birds up at the forest, but nothing this year in the
garden. Apart from starlings - oh and lots of extremely cheeky magpies!

Last year there were lots of birds - so I am ruling out the birds' 'memory
of bad experience' theory. There are cats locally, but not too much of a
problem. On balance, I think I go for one of two ideas.... either it's
Bevan's theory of a predator nearby. Very infrequently I've seen birds of
prey circling overhead (not able to identify... sorry). But they're around
and its a clear possibility. Alternatively, I still wonder if a bulk crop
of peanuts/seeds, common to most local suppliers, might be contaminated.
I've tried sprinkling the seed on the ground and it tends to get eated, but
they're not exactly queuing up for it.

Regards

Baz




overkill of food supplies ? too many neighbours putting out food so
they are all full up ?
and maybe the other food supplies locations may have a preferable
ambience ? how would you rate your garden for light and large plants
? shadows ?

"Barry Watts" wrote in message
...
: Thanks for all the responses to this. I am very interested indeed to hear
: that some areas quite close to me, in Woodford, Essex, are experiencing a
: similar phenomenon, while others, not that far away, are getting lots of
: visitors. I am fairly close to Epping Forest here, so expect quite a few
: visitors. I've seen birds up at the forest, but nothing this year in the
: garden. Apart from starlings - oh and lots of extremely cheeky magpies!
:
: Last year there were lots of birds - so I am ruling out the birds' 'memory
: of bad experience' theory. There are cats locally, but not too much of a
: problem. On balance, I think I go for one of two ideas.... either it's
: Bevan's theory of a predator nearby. Very infrequently I've seen birds of
: prey circling overhead (not able to identify... sorry). But they're
around
: and its a clear possibility. Alternatively, I still wonder if a bulk crop
: of peanuts/seeds, common to most local suppliers, might be contaminated.
: I've tried sprinkling the seed on the ground and it tends to get eated,
but
: they're not exactly queuing up for it.
:
: Regards
:
: Baz
:
Could another possibility be that more of your neighbours are feeding the
birds now and they have more choice. I think a lot of people are becoming
more interested in wildlife and the environment these days, especially since
the publicity surrounding the possible causes for sparrow/starling decline.

K

Hmmmm....
Alternative abundant food supplies.... I guess its possible. Likely even.
But can't say that any nearby gardens have changed their habits. But I
guess birds are a little more mobile than the few gardens that I can see.
I guess I'll never know for sure, but was interested to hear that others had
experienced the same thing. And the guy who gets through 25KG per week!
What you feeding.... Ostrich? grin

Baz

Peter Crosland wrote in message ...

I'm in Clackmannanshire (between Stirlingshire and Fife) and I've had
loads of action at the bird feeder this winter, including robins,
blackbirds, collared doves, blue tits, great tits, sparrows,
chaffinches,
a wren, a pied wagtail, greenfinches and goldfinches.

The one bird I haven't had interested was starlings. They and the
rooks just make noise from on top of the TV aerials.

Sharon

Here in South Somerset I have had all the above plus wood pigeon, cock
pheasant, greater spotted woodpecker, thrushes, long tailed tits and
greenfinches. All but the pheasant have been daily visitors. I am
spending
small fortune feeding them!

I've had most of the above, and have had siskins for the last few days,
wondered why I had a sudden influx, then realised they weren't the
normal sort of bird, so out with the binoculars and lo and behold!
A couple of the more unusual visitors have been Sparrowhawk and Kestrel,
suspect that they think I'm gathering the birds for them. No
woodpeckers, and no long tailed tits, but pheasants have been regular
visitors.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

Barry Watts wrote:
Hmmmm....
Alternative abundant food supplies.... I guess its possible.
Likely even. But can't say that any nearby gardens have changed
their habits. But I guess birds are a little more mobile than the
few gardens that I can see. I guess I'll never know for sure, but
was interested to hear that others had experienced the same thing.
And the guy who gets through 25KG per week! What you feeding....
Ostrich? grin

Sorry. Did I say per week?
25Kg per month is the reality.
And although there is an ostrich farm not that far away, the biggest
birds in the garden are pheasant, moor hen and collared doves. ;-)
Sorry about that.

--
ned

Here in Southern Ireland we have noticed a decline in the bird population
also. Having said that we have a wonderful family of tits that seem to be
thriving, last year we had only four at our feeder, this year we have eight
We also have two robins, and have seen both of them at the feeder, we
only saw one last year. We were under the impression that robins 1. didn't
come out in pairs and 2. didn't feed from high feeders. Boy were we wrong

To mail me direct please reply to:
shannie(AT)utvinternet.ie
(replace the "at" with the usual symbol.)

"ned" wrote in message
...
Barry Watts wrote:
Hmmmm....
Alternative abundant food supplies.... I guess its possible.
Likely even. But can't say that any nearby gardens have changed
their habits. But I guess birds are a little more mobile than the
few gardens that I can see. I guess I'll never know for sure, but
was interested to hear that others had experienced the same thing.
And the guy who gets through 25KG per week! What you feeding....
Ostrich? grin

Sorry. Did I say per week?
25Kg per month is the reality.
And although there is an ostrich farm not that far away, the biggest
birds in the garden are pheasant, moor hen and collared doves. ;-)
Sorry about that.

--
ned

On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 at 02:00:35 shannie wrote:

Here in Southern Ireland we have noticed a decline in the bird population
also. Having said that we have a wonderful family of tits that seem to be
thriving, last year we had only four at our feeder, this year we have eight
We also have two robins, and have seen both of them at the feeder, we
only saw one last year. We were under the impression that robins 1. didn't
come out in pairs and 2. didn't feed from high feeders. Boy were we wrong

Robins are usually territorial and only pair during the breeding season.
They do use the bird table and hanging feeders in my garden.
--
Joe Farrugia, London

my parents experienced the same thing at their house, after years of bird
feeding, suddenly no birds... then they discovered they did have one
bird... a great big hawk. The song birds found safer feeders until the
hawk moved on.

Here, at our house, we have several resident red tail hawks, they surf the
feeders in the morning, looking and sometimes finding a hapless victim, but
usually they move on to the meadow for the field mice and the birds come
right back.