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"Bird Barren" garden (1 Viewer)

D

desperately seeking

Member
Hi all,

I live in Bromley (SE London/NW Kent). We have a small garden out back and a postage stamp at the front of the house.

We have feeders, bird tables and various hanging goodies for birds at various locations in the back garden but the majority of these remain untouched - not barely touched but in pristine condition.

I have recently spent a day (about eight hours on and off) watching the garden to see what we get. In eight hours:
1) Blue tits
2) Great tits
3).......
4),,,,,,,

And that's it. No blackbirds, no starlings, robins or wrens, no finches of any description and (not entirely surprisingly) no sparrows.

A couple of years ago we had some mature trees at the back of our garden that have since been chopped down. When they were up we used to get greenfinches, sparrows, coal tits, wrens and even a nuthatch. Jays and magpies used to visit regularly and even the "naturalised" ring-necked parrakeets used to pay calls. My mum even swears she saw a sparrowhawk land one day.

Now (no disrepect to the tits) we get nothing.

Anyone live close with similar experiences? Anyone with a different story from a similar urban locale?

I'm desperate to take pictures of birds in the back garden but there's only so many great tits and blue tits that one can take.

DS
 
desperately seeking said:
Hi all,

I live in Bromley (SE London/NW Kent). We have a small garden out back and a postage stamp at the front of the house.

We have feeders, bird tables and various hanging goodies for birds at various locations in the back garden but the majority of these remain untouched - not barely touched but in pristine condition.

I have recently spent a day (about eight hours on and off) watching the garden to see what we get. In eight hours:
1) Blue tits
2) Great tits
3).......
4),,,,,,,

And that's it. No blackbirds, no starlings, robins or wrens, no finches of any description and (not entirely surprisingly) no sparrows.

A couple of years ago we had some mature trees at the back of our garden that have since been chopped down. When they were up we used to get greenfinches, sparrows, coal tits, wrens and even a nuthatch. Jays and magpies used to visit regularly and even the "naturalised" ring-necked parrakeets used to pay calls. My mum even swears she saw a sparrowhawk land one day.

Now (no disrepect to the tits) we get nothing.

Anyone live close with similar experiences? Anyone with a different story from a similar urban locale?

I'm desperate to take pictures of birds in the back garden but there's only so many great tits and blue tits that one can take.

Short answer,move house!
If this isnt an option :p nut and seed feeders over time should attract more than tits,especially in hard weather which we havent had much of.If you have been feeding for several months already then im stumped.
Click to expand...
 
desperately seeking said:
Hi all,

I live in Bromley (SE London/NW Kent). We have a small garden out back and a postage stamp at the front of the house.

We have feeders, bird tables and various hanging goodies for birds at various locations in the back garden but the majority of these remain untouched - not barely touched but in pristine condition.

I have recently spent a day (about eight hours on and off) watching the garden to see what we get. In eight hours:
1) Blue tits
2) Great tits
3).......
4),,,,,,,

And that's it. No blackbirds, no starlings, robins or wrens, no finches of any description and (not entirely surprisingly) no sparrows.

A couple of years ago we had some mature trees at the back of our garden that have since been chopped down. When they were up we used to get greenfinches, sparrows, coal tits, wrens and even a nuthatch. Jays and magpies used to visit regularly and even the "naturalised" ring-necked parrakeets used to pay calls. My mum even swears she saw a sparrowhawk land one day.

Now (no disrepect to the tits) we get nothing.

Anyone live close with similar experiences? Anyone with a different story from a similar urban locale?

I'm desperate to take pictures of birds in the back garden but there's only so many great tits and blue tits that one can take.

DS
Click to expand...

We have no garden birds about 10 miles west if you either. Dont worry about it, it has been such an abundant season for berries in the South East, I think the birds are gorging themselves. They will be back once the weather turns cold.
 
Same here (not quite as bad) the European birds are still in the EEC, the locals are in the hedgerows.
I've just had a Robin & 2 Blackbirds return but I'm mostly supporting the Sparrows.
 
Hi all,

I live on the edge of a village in Scotland surrounded by woodland on three sides, and it's only very recently that we've seen blackbirds and robins and the likes returning to our garden. The abundance of berries has occurred countrywide so I'm sure they'll be back when the weather gets colder and food gets scarce.

By the way, do you have cover from shrubs and some height for the birds to use for shelter and protection? That all helps to attract birds. Good luck! :bounce:
 
On my last house move, 5 years ago now, we moved to a more rural area. Expecting to get masses of different birds I bought bird food by the sack full. The first year I threw most of it away! But I carried on regardless (with much smaller amounts!) now I struggle to keep up with my bird clientelle. My advice, be patient. They will come.
 
Hi,

I live in an area of older houses that used to have hedges and mature trees and had many birds visiting. Now many houses have changed hands, people do not like gardening, have pulled hedges out and taken down trees, front gardens are now gravel or hard surfacing for parking cars leaving nowhere for birds to shelter or roost in fact not much to attract them at all, plants if any are in pots or tubs and not native ones.

As older members will know I have a permanent battle with the next door neighbour about our "shared hedge" and struggle to keep it , he has a fence his side.

As all of us know birds need cover and plenty of it not only for shelter but food too.

I fight Malta for shooting birds how do I fight people here for removing everything green and growing?

Ann
 
Just to let you know DS, I have had my bird feeders up for four years now. I do have trees and shrubs around me however for the first two years all I had was Sparrows visit. Now I have six different species of birds that visit me everyday with the odd ball occasionally. I even have an occasional visit from an American Kestrel hoping to get an easy meal. That has not happened yet as far as I know. All you have to do is be consistent and patient. Provide fresh water daily. Research the birds that are common in your area and provide their favorite food. They will come.
 
Like most of the others have said, stick with it. We moved into an old country cottage some months ago. The place had not been lived in for over a year and the garden, although large, was devoid of all bird life. A few weeks of feeding and we now have a diverse range of birds eating us out of house and home.
None of this is rocket science but it proves that you just have to stick with it.
Best of luck.
 
A couple of weeks later and an improvement

All,

I posted this thread a while back in desperation as we had very little variety in the way of visitors to our garden.

Things have changed a little. Here are a few pictures of our most recent visitors. The only one I haven't managed to capture has been the briefest of visits by a coal tit.

The long tailed tits are a particular surprise, we had four on the same fat cake at the same time this afternoon.

The magpie hasn't actually visited the feeders but there is a nesting pair in a tree behind our garden. Is this likely to be a deterrent to small birds visiting?

We still haven't seen any finches (although I have definitely heard a chaffinch calling). What are my chances of seeing a goldfinch in such an urban area? Neither have we seen any thrushes (or blackbirds) nor sparrows.

Any others that I might expect?

DS
 

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Hi Ds,
Congratulations on getting more birds and with the photos too, they're great. Do you put some food on the ground? as Blackbirds and Chaffinches are primarily ground feeders, that may help to bring them in. The Blackbirds also like a bare bit of earth or grass to scratch around in and search for earthworms. As others have said, birds like shrubs for cover, various plants too to help the insects come which in turn attracts the birds, and fresh water to drink and to bathe in, if you already have all this, then I'm sure the birds will increase in numbers. Good Luck.
 
Thanks for the happy update Judo. Gives me hope for my barren concrete wasteland.

Here is my list for the past 2 months:-

......... !

:-(
 
DS just keep up with the sunflower hearts peanuts and fat feeders.

We we are a few miles further in to London than you in west dulwich with a large garden and lucky to have woods around we have 5-7 goldfinches at a time at the moment plus a pair of nuthatches and a family of GS woodpeckers everyday on the peanuts.
We have plenty of greenfinches and all the tits too and the long tailed ones nested in our garden last year.

So the birds are around.
 
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