Garden birdlife - or lack of it.

Our numbers in South Lincolnshire are way down at the moment, the blackbirds are there just as it gets light and after that it is Green Finches, Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws only plus the odd optimistic Sparrowhawk. 

Read with interest, would give longer reply but am on smartphone and font tiny.

For  two months had to stop feeding birds etc due to unwanted visitor!!! So my gang left and all that remained were two wood pigeons. Last week put feeders out again and nowt came then all of a sudden me Sparrows returned just half a dozen then increased to three dozen. This week goldfinches are back, with great/blue and coal tits nearly every only one of each but it's a start. Magpie bred on garden for first time and had two but only one here. One good thing the 45 feral pigeons have gone for time being. Not got all 14 feeders out yet . No blackbirds or starlings for weeks bar one blackbird other night. All my trees are laden with berries which the woodies have had some. 
I know things will get better and return to the 100+ amount of birds in a day. I live on Southwestrrn edge of Scunny with open fields not far away and a small country park close by which have not been to in 25 years.

Hope have cheered you up Ray.

I think there is a difference between suburban gardens in places like Cleethorpes and rural gardens such as mine in Market Rasen.  Mine borders on to agricultural land and species such as Goldfinch share both habitats.  I agree with Pete - let's wait and see. 

In the last couple of months birds have been skulking around trying to get through a moult; also it's still quite mild, so perhaps not coming to bird feeders yet. If the lack of species lasts into the next few months then that may be the time to be worried.

Regards Pete

I couldn’t agree more with your general sentiments, Ray, but sadly I have no good news either.
I live about a mile away from your location, my local patch is the Belvoir Rd stretch of Buck Beck, bordering the Country Park.
The decline in bird species and numbers this year is very marked. There appears to be considerably less Blue/Gt Tits, Dunnock, no Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, LT Tits, less Blackbirds, no Wren or House Sparrow. Pheasant also absent.
They were there in expected numbers at the start of the breeding season, during which most were observed to have bred. Since then the decline has been rapid. There are five sites within this locale that contained good flocks of House Sparrow, minimum 25/30 birds. These have disappeared completely. I spent an hour there this morning and only recorded three species (magpies and crows apart). Pigeons, Wood and Feral, also seem to be declining.
One of our garden boxes had Gt Tits this year, but we’ll over a month late and fledged just two. There were no mortalities.
Extremely dry and hot summer?   Bird Flu?   Moved on?   Who knows.
 

Well that's good to hear!

Perhaps there's hope yet for brighter days in our very nature-friendly garden here in Richmond Road, Cleethorpes. I'm guessing the cats are a part of the equation. On a more positive note as regards mammals we often see foxes.