Insect and birds - less this year
ZeroZero1
Posts: 577
This year I have hardly seen any bird life. I live in rural St Albans. Last year I had a lot of blue tits and coal tits, occasional sparrows, wrens, thrushes and blackbirds. Magpies crows and pigeons were also visitors.
This year i have seen one magpie, a couple of pigeons, no blue tits or coal tits at all, one robin, a blackbird and little else.
I put out some food, nuts, seed, fatballs and water, I have watched carefully and nothing is coming to feed. Its been a few weeks now, the seed levels are more or less the same. Just one magpie comes, but even he seems to have gone now. When I listen for the dawn or evening chorus its just not as full as it has been. It used to be a riot, no more.
Insects are also scarce, I ended up hand pollinating my tomatoes. I did not see any bees in early summer, but there are some now, likewise wasps and flies seem less in number.
There has been a definite collapse since my childhood in the 1950s but this year it seems more marked than ever
I am not alone in this view:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/where-have-all-the-birds-gone/is-the-number-of-birds-in-decline/
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/europe-bird-population-countryside-reduced-pesticides-france-wildlife-cnrs-a8267246.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/17/where-have-insects-gone-climate-change-population-decline
This year i have seen one magpie, a couple of pigeons, no blue tits or coal tits at all, one robin, a blackbird and little else.
I put out some food, nuts, seed, fatballs and water, I have watched carefully and nothing is coming to feed. Its been a few weeks now, the seed levels are more or less the same. Just one magpie comes, but even he seems to have gone now. When I listen for the dawn or evening chorus its just not as full as it has been. It used to be a riot, no more.
Insects are also scarce, I ended up hand pollinating my tomatoes. I did not see any bees in early summer, but there are some now, likewise wasps and flies seem less in number.
There has been a definite collapse since my childhood in the 1950s but this year it seems more marked than ever
I am not alone in this view:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/where-have-all-the-birds-gone/is-the-number-of-birds-in-decline/
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/europe-bird-population-countryside-reduced-pesticides-france-wildlife-cnrs-a8267246.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/17/where-have-insects-gone-climate-change-population-decline
0
Posts
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/where-have-all-the-birds-gone/are-garden-birds-in-decline/
It's funny you say the decline in your area as I think it has risen in my garden this year than any other. I've seen more birds, butterflies, bees, Red kites and the likes BUT I have been planting plants that attract wildlife and growing more hedging for protection.
I'm desperate for a hedgehog but I think they are a fantasy, too many plastic gardens and fences.
I'm sure if you keep doing what you are doing, maybe adding a pond too if you can the wildlife will come back. But also maybe the heat we had had some sort of impact? The local wildlife maybe found a more suitable watering hole so to speak?
The dawn and evening choruses are part of the breeding season behaviour too... it’s territorial ... so there’s no need for it at this time of year and it doesn’t happen.
My experience is that bird behaviour and numbers here on the edge of Norwich are pretty much as they have been in other years. We’re certainly not seeing many birds at the feeders and I use this time of year to take them down and give them a thorough clean and disinfection before their use picks up towards the winter.
One of the the birds I have noticed in the garden over the last few days is a wren which seems to have adopted our clematis-covered fence as a favourite hang-out 🙂
Loads of bees, wasps, hoverflies etc. Not so many butterflies, but that's only to be expected as it's been cool, wet and windy here for a while,and we tend to get most of them from mid to late August onwards anyway.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nasa-lithium-chemtrails-conspiracy/