Garden birds have diminished worryingly! (1 Viewer)

Hello all! I have just signed up, having used these forums as a resource for a while now. I live on the outskirts of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK, within walking distance of Hockley Woods, Belfairs Woods and Grove Woods. We have lived in this suburban house for 12 years, during which time I have avidly monitored our garden wildlife when possible. Here are my rather worrying observations. Sorry in advance for the long post!

We moved in late 2002, meaning our first full breeding season was summer 2003. During that period, it was perfectly normal to have our feeders full to the brim with squabbling families of Blue Tits, Great Tits, House Sparrows, Robins, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Long-tailed Tits, Goldfinches on occasion, Starlings, a Coal Tit, both adult and young GS Woodpeckers, and I have probably forgotten some. Obviously this was not all at once, but it was common to have upwards of 25 birds in our garden at any one time. Meanwhile we would also have Wrens, Dunnocks, Goldcrests, a solitary Chiffchaff, Blackbirds, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, Collared Doves, Blackcaps, Green Woodpeckers, Jays, Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrush, various overflying gulls and occasionally terns, and again, probably more. Swifts, House Martins and Swallows were ubiquitous overhead. Indeed the dawn chorus was a wall of sound. All the above would be at threat from our seemingly resident Sparrowhawks. In a day, I could feasibly see 20 different species.

Meanwhile in winter there would be regular visits from Redwings, Fieldfares, a Waxwing on one occasion as well as Siskins and Bramblings, both of which were extremely tame. Also we had a GBB Gull on our roof, a heron on our birdtable (!!) and, yes, a flyover Puffin. Our garden highlight has to be the massive female Goshawk which appeared on Christmas Eve of that first year.

Insect life was very much the same. We had Eyed Hawkmoth, Elephant Hawkmoth, Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Poplar Hawkmoth, Wall Brown, Silver-washed Fritillary, Comma, Orange Tip, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Painted Lady, Holly Blue, Common Lizard, and our Buddleia would be teaming with the more regular Red Admirals, Whites and Peacocks etc. while minibeast hunting would yield millipedes, centipedes, beetles (including a dead female stag), cockchafers, crickets galore etc. Despite not having a pond we had frogs, even coming into our kitchen.

However, in the 10 years that have followed, the garden bird life has very much diminished. Most of what I listed above have all but vanished. In the summer just gone, there was maybe only one Blue Tit family and House Sparrow family, along with some young Starlings, Robins and Magpies.
We have, however, lost everything else; I have not once seen more than about 5 birds in our garden at one time (big flocks of the same species aside), and the dawn chorus is noticeable quieter. The Buddleia will have one Red Admiral if we are lucky and a few Silver Y's at night; Commas are the only common butterfly around now. Even the Collared Doves have vanished into thin air! No more cooing, yay...

But...it’s not all bad; we have gained badgers – POXY THINGS! We had for a few weeks a pair of Blackcaps and in last year’s seemingly bumper migration, a massive flock of (c.80+) Redpolls in next door’s Silver Birch, along with almost constant Goldfinches on our niger, which I attribute in part to my planting of one single Teasel which has since turned into a forest of teasel. And we had a Tawny Owl in our Damson tree, which is well worth being woken up at 5:30am for.

Yes, admittedly we have lost a small amount of vegetation (most notably next door’s large Hawthorn bush which was chopped to make room for decking), a few Damsons saplings , a rotted apple tree and a ceanothus which fell in the wind. These have been replaced by a Yew, another ceanothus and a few other various bushes, including a cherry tree to replace the apple tree. We have also planted various wildflower patches. We still feed the birds all the same, the only exception being the one which was broken by the squirrels, which, funnily enough, have also not been seen in a couple of years.

Is this a reflection of birds/wildlife in the UK at present? Or has our garden just become unfavourable? I know birds go in trends and migrations vary, but the amount of breeding birds which we have lost from this area does seem worrying. Does anybody else have any similar things happening?

Or, has somebody nicked all our garden birds for themselves?

Tom

It gets even more worrying over a 50 year+ period Tom!...gone from my immediate surroundings in SW Essex/London borders (breeding within a 1 mile radius) Red-backed Shrike, Turtle Dove, Linnet, Skylark, Yellow Bunting, Willow Tit, Marsh Tit, Tree Pipit, Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Creeper, Cuckoo, Tree Sparrow, Bullfinch, Kingfisher and Lesser- Spotted Woodpecker, also from our road..Starling, House Sparrow and Greenfinch! On the plus side...Sprawk, Red Kite, Buzzard, Legret, Hobby, and an increase in Corvids, Grt.Spot/Green Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeon, Goldfinch, Coal Tit and very occasional Firecrest!.....:-C

I live in a very urban enviroment (town center terrace) and only ever have Starling, Blackbird(occasionally) House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon, and last year did have a family of Blue Tits, however over the past 12months I have seen a dramatic decline in these birds.
Last winter I was having to replace food on a daily basis, now I am having to throw food away after it been left for so long.
I still have my 2 House Sparrows and the pigeons are always here, but I've seen a big decline in the Starlings, now I know that this bird is declining all over the country but to see it over such a small time period is quite alarming, even the adult Blue Tits have gone seemingly disappeared and I have had nothing take it's place, it's that bad I don't even do a garden list, admittedly I have had some decent fly overs, Common Buzzard, would never of seen that here 10yrs ago and lots of finches/tits/wagtails but they never take advantage of the range of foods I put out. However I will keep on putting the food out, has I always like spending a hour watching there daily antics.

Over this winter and particularly since the start of the year, I have had very few birds on my bird feeder and over the last 3-4 weeks I've just had about 2 or 3 birds on the bird feeder. I took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch and only saw 1 House Sparrow, although it was good to see that species of bird as they are not quite so common now. The RSPB say it is because the weather has been so mild so far this winter, that the birds are finding enough natural food and they are staying away from the bird feeders.
Ian.

I'm in Southend too, and we used to regularly have a couple of greenfinches and a pair of jays in the gardens but haven't seen either for two years now.

Likewise, nearby the OP - probably just the other side of Hockley Woods.

Most of my small number of residents seem to be present. A lot of House Sparrows, maybe 6 blue tits, a pair of great tits, dunnocks, collared doves (woohoo) and the occasional woodie.

The blackbirds had me worried this year. All but one juvenile female disappeared for about three months and only returned about a month ago.

I think it's hard to compare last winter with this winter, as this winter has been so mild. It means the natural sources of food for many birds are more abundant or accessible (not covered by a foot of snow, for example!). I have certainly seen a decrease in visiting birds in our garden, but if I go to the nearby farmland and woods, the species we had in our garden last winter are still there, and - here, at least - still quite abundant.

Having said that, if I look at my parent's garden, in suburban Greater Manchester, the decline has been similar to what you say. The birds they used to get almost daily (depending on season) but now hardly see at all include blue, coal and great tits; bullfinch, greenfinch and siskin; song thrush and blackcap. They still get lots of house sparrows, and goldinch is new for them in the last couple of years, but otherwise, the decline is shocking.