Where have all the birds gone and why?

[Vikdikdok]

They are eating the sparrows, they are eating the seagulls, they are eating your pet budgie - ( according to you know who)

 

[TheAleMan]

Possibly hiding whilst renewing worn out feathers. They are vulnerable at that time. We seem to have about the same number as usual for this time of year

This

 

[dryad]

Drat, and I've just paid my home insurance. Needn't have bothered!

oh well, if the end of the world happens you wouldn't have been able to spend it elsewhere anyway..

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Grey squirrels eating eggs in nests

 

[Gingernuts]

Sorry my cat is responsible for at least one dead robin yesterday! It was presented to me as a “gift”first thing in the morning before I got my slippers on

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[swemmy666]

Cat owners often don’t help.

There are too many domestic cats allowed to roam beyond their boundaries here in London, and that is without taking into account those without owners.
I watch my neighbours cat hiding below fences waiting to pounce on sparrows etc

I don’t know why it is considered OK for someone’s pet to decimate wildlife or defecate in other peoples back gardens or jump all over other peoples cars

Like dogs, I love well all behaved pets.


It’s the owners that I have problems with

Thinking you can manage a cat like a dog, never going to work. There is a expression "like herding cats" for something that is impossible to do..

 

[Oldrat]

Are you abrogating the owners responsibility?

 

[Gingernuts]

Thinking you can manage a cat like a dog, never going to work. There is a expression "like herding cats" for something that is impossible to do..

My neighbour a prolific gardener complained that the cat would go to the toilet in his newly prepared border! I bought him a super soaker water gun from Argos and he only had to pump it up for the cat to disappear no need for water!

 

[swemmy666]

Are you abrogating the owners responsibility?

you think cats are owned? they tolerate us for the food and lodging we give for free, they are not a wolf who runs in packs

 

[Oldrat]

You’d like to think so

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[HKF]

In our garden and field, in France, we've seen a reduction in the number of birds this year up to about 3 days ago, when they all re-appeared. We now have lots and lots of them again, which is great. I've no idea where they've all been. Butterfly numbers are up this year but we've seen fewer bees and wasps. Fly numbers are about the same (I know this because most of them die in our Red Top fly traps ).

The saddest news of all is that a little Robin died this morning when he flew into our window. He died instantly. I have been able to bring round a couple of birds who have done the same in the past by holding them close to me until they recover from the shock but this little guy this morning didn't have a chance

Recently, we drove from here to the UK and back and noticed how few flies, midges etc were on the car. Something is definitely changing from how it used to be.

 

[Nanniemate]

I get the odd bird fly onto the patio doors
They don't do it when the window blind is down 1/3 .it seems to stop them thinking they can fly straight through. None died.only shunned. I leave them alone and they soon fly off

 

[Gina M]

We used to have birds singing all day in our garden then all of a sudden it went quiet. I have had pigeons nesting for years in a tree next to the bedroom window, one night for some reason it hit the bedroom window which I was surprised but in the morning I found it's wing on the grass and a few nights later looked out of the window and a Sparrow Hawk had the other one on the lawn and was tearing it to pieces, it was headless. Since then I hardly ever hear birdsong so I thought that was why they had disappeared. So sad

 

[Nanniemate]

We used to have birds singing all day in our garden then all of a sudden it went quiet. I have had pigeons nesting for years in a tree next to the bedroom window, one night for some reason it hit the bedroom window which I was surprised but in the morning I found it's wing on the grass and a few nights later looked out of the window and a Sparrow Hawk had the other one on the lawn and was tearing it to pieces, it was headless. Since then I hardly ever hear birdsong so I thought that was why they had disappeared. So sad

Sparrow hawk arrived at brothers all the little birds hid in the hedges and travelled to nest boxes under cover. They stayed away from feeding stations .
After a week.or so the sparrow hawk got hungry and moved on .
The birds returned to the grass and the feeders as soon as it left .

 

[TheAleMan]

Grey squirrels eating eggs in nests

This does happen, probably more than people realise

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[Joethejoiner]

Whaurs the burds?
The older I get the more I find myself asking this question

 

[B-JandBella]

What has happened to all the birds? Our garden is normally a hive of avian activity plus raptors circling and gulls making a lot of noise and being a nuisance but in the last three weeks we have only seen the odd pigeon.

Earlier this week we spent a day in Weymouth and noticed the almost complete absence of sea birds. One could eat a sandwich or chips without be mobbed by gulls. Yesterday we spent the day in Lyme Regis scene of many gull attacks on unsuspecting grockles, but again hardly a gull or any other bird in sight. Can anyone suggest a reason for this and has anyone noticed similar?

Well, you will find, that the birds in the garden have had their young, and once the young are ready to fly, they will endevour
to seak new adventures. Just like us!

As for the sea gulls (well, land gulls, because they don't live at sea), they too have new adventures, but never seem to go very far from home.
Living in Brixham, I'm glad to see them bugger off, just for a bit of peace and quiet!

BUT IT NEVER LAST'S....

 

[Spriddler]

you think cats are owned? they tolerate us for the food and lodging we give for free,

Quite.
Dogs have masters; cats have staff.

 

[Hirsch]

In our garden and field, in France, we've seen a reduction in the number of birds this year up to about 3 days ago, when they all re-appeared. We now have lots and lots of them again, which is great. I've no idea where they've all been. Butterfly numbers are up this year but we've seen fewer bees and wasps. Fly numbers are about the same (I know this because most of them die in our Red Top fly traps ).

The saddest news of all is that a little Robin died this morning when he flew into our window. He died instantly. I have been able to bring round a couple of birds who have done the same in the past by holding them close to me until they recover from the shock but this little guy this morning didn't have a chance

Recently, we drove from here to the UK and back and noticed how few flies, midges etc were on the car. Something is definitely changing from how it used to be.

Industrial farming, pesticides, climate changes, French , Cypriots and others still catching and or shooting migrating birds to eat (WTF!!!).

What do we expect?

 

[HKF]

Industrial farming, pesticides, climate changes, French , Cypriots and others still catching and or shooting migrating birds to eat (WTF!!!).

What do we expect?

Really? I never knew this. What birds are caught or shot in France to eat, please?

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[Podney]

Too many magpies
Too many cats
Too many sparrowhawks
Too much weird weather.
Too much bird flu.

 

[Gina M]

We shoot birds to eat too don't we?? pheasant, partridge, pigeon and grouse. I don't see them anymore around here either. I once saw 6 male pheasants sitting in line on the fence on our field. I wish I had my phone with me at the time it was so funny.

 

[Dorwyn]

I get the odd bird fly onto the patio doors
They don't do it when the window blind is down 1/3 .it seems to stop them thinking they can fly straight through. None died.only shunned. I leave them alone and they soon fly off

We had a Sparrowhawk do that, it just lay stunned for a few minutes, we got quite close to it, you could see its heart beating, then in an instant, it was gone.

 

[jerryz]

CATS too many of the blighters my daughters cats kill 2 or 3 birds a week and a few mice, frogs ,squirrels

 

[Puddleduck]

We just had the mechanical cutter trim our back hedge (front still to be done) and there are dozens of small birds who have taken refuge in our gutters at the moment!!

Mostly various varieties of sparrow and a few yellowhammers.

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[Beemobile]

Our redundant kennels have housed Robins and blackbirds this year, babies long gone but the swallows left only a couple of weeks ago, today after 50 years of no not ever, a squirrel sat on the lawn for ages before trotting off, and thankfully the pigeons have got the message and flown ( mostly) off. Now the pheasants which avoided the guns have come to pinch the chickens grub, there's not been many butterflies though, the ducks may arrive soon to paddle in the flood water! Hey ho.

 

[Spriddler]

there's not been many butterflies though,

UK Butterfly Emergency Declared

Big Butterfly Count 2024 results reveal lowest numbers on recordWildlife charity Butterfly Conservation has today declared a national ‘Butterfly Emergency’, with results of this summer’s Big Butterfly Count showing a marked and hugely concerning decline in numbers.Overall, participants spotted...

www.butterfly-conservation.org

 

[jockaneezer]

Haven't seen telephone wires filled with swallows, waiting to head South for a couple of years now either ?

 

[highwayman]

There are 11 million cats in the uk, if each one kills three birds in its lifetime ??????
And let's be honest they'll kill a lot more than that.

 

[John Barrett]

If they don't migrate then why are called 'Canada' geese?

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