Where are the birds??

Fran IOM

I have noticed lately that my regular visitors the blackbird and robin haven't been visiting and it has been very quiet without the blackbird singing. I was hoping that they had not been attacked by any neighbouring cats.
I had an email from the RSPB which threw some light on the fact.
This one I had never heard of before but the second one is common knowledge.

They’re keeping themselves safe

The first reason that birds are less visible in the summer is that they are growing a new set of feathers, which can be very draining and make it harder for them to fly. This means that for a few weeks they are much more vulnerable to predators and territorial birds. To stay safe, they keep as quiet as possible and hide themselves away.

Secondly, in late summer grain, berries, and fruit are more readily available so the birds don’t need to rely on your bird feeders quite as much.

In areas where farmland is nearby, for example, house sparrows, starlings and many finches move out to fields to feast on the abundance of grain before it is harvested, and on the spilt grain after the harvest. Even in cities, sparrows and finches are attracted to any piece of rough ground that provides a good crop of weed seeds, and blackbirds and song thrushes tend to move to where there is an abundance of fruit or berries.

Hopefully it won't be long before blackbird and robin return to my garden. 

Fairygirl

All 'my' little blue and great tits and coal tits have reappeared in the last few days, and the sparrows were back last week. The dunnocks are always in though. They often have a new set of youngsters to feed too, so a bit of extra food in gardens is appealing. We're near farmland and woodland, so they always disappear in summer when there's loads of food elsewhere. I see goldfinches almost every day when I'm out, in the hedges along the farm road. Loads of food for them there 
The little blue tit that was singing it's head off on Thursday was very ragged looking too. Wee souls   

bertrand-mabel

Our birds haven't read the info from the RSPB!

We have no end of blackbirds, adults and juveniles, foraging under the bird feeders and in the orchard.

Robins.....never had so many in our garden and again both adults and juveniles.

The sparrows are still around and still collecting nest material for yet another go!

Yes the blue and great tits are coming back but they are very wary of the sparrows who can be very agressive at the feeders.

Greater spotted woodpeckers adults and juveniles at the feeders but mum does see off the young ones very quickly now.

Fran IOM

@Fairygirl My regulars are Goldfinches and they dwindled for a while but are now back in full force. The sparrows disappeared for quite some time but have just returned which means the fatballs disappear in 24 hours. I get the odd blue tit for the peanuts and I think I saw a green finch the other day. Plenty of larger birds but they have to make do with what drops out of the feeders. i.e. wood pigeons, jackdaws, crows and common pigeons.
@bertrand-mabel Your garden sounds like a hive of activity! Wish I had more selection of birds. As my garden is actually a private allotment made into a garden I have to cross the road to be there so don't have the facility of looking out of the window to watch the birds come and go so maybe there are other visitors I don't get to see. I am usually only there for a couple of hours a day. 

Something which happened one day was quite touching. When I arrived there was a pigeon who had been mutilated with all of its innards gone leaving just the head, wings and feet. A complete mess. I dug a hole and buried it clearing up all the feathers which were everywhere. I carried on weeding the area and out of the blue this pigeon came over the wall and sat down beside me and stayed there. Didn't move away and only left when I had to leave. It must have been its mate I imagine and was grateful I had done it a favour. 

Busy-Lizzie

That's rather sad @Fran IOM, pigeons mate for life and share in the care of their babies. 
My garden is full of birds, especially blackbirds. I see the front garden robin and the back garden robin quite often when I'm gardening. Lots of pigeons too, their cooing irritates OH but I quite like it, sort of soothing. I've given up feeding the birds as NDN leaves out so much food they aren't interested.

Papi Jo

@Busy-Lizzie

NDN ?

Obelixx

next door neighbour

Busy-Lizzie

Next door neighbour @Papi Jo. I'm at OH's Norfolk Cottage, not my French house, at the moment.

TheGreenMan

That’s lovely @Fran IOM 😔

I have a few pigeons taking twigs from the garden at the moment. One picks them up and takes them off while the other watches from the top of the hedge. 

I must admit I was wondering where the coal tits and goldfinches and house sparrows had gone. Lots of fields around here so perhaps they are there now. 

I’m left with a group of about 15 jackdaw and a few collared doves. 

The swifts aren’t screaming overhead on a nightly basis as much now either so it has felt very quiet. 

The kites have also been fairly absent this week but I guess we’ve had a lot of rain so they may be in the forests nearby etc. 

It’s fascinating going from barely nothing in the city to this big community of winged friends. 

cornelly

You can have our sparrows several broods, in the roof of a building next door, they have decimated the runner beans besides black currants and flowers from the berberis bush and the pyracantha, I know I have already posted one like this but never had such an attack on plants before, so felt I must repeat.

Fairygirl

I'm rather fond of the sparrows here. We have them in the hundreds all around us. They fill the hedgerows with their chatter. 
Lovely that you're seeing so much @James. I saw a pigeon with a twig yesterday when I was out. It was struggling a bit with it - too big for it to manage   

That's rather sad @Fran IOM re 'your' pigeon, and quite moving. I'm very attached to Dave [all right, Dave]  who is a regular visitor and always on his own. I know they can be a bit of a nuisance, but they all need to eat, and there are ways of ensuring everything gets a chance.  Dave comes at a regular time each day - usually when I'm coming back from a morning walk. He takes the huff when I'm away all day on a hill though, and I have to ask my daughters to look out for him and put out a wee handful of food for him