No Birds In My Garden At All.....Help!

[chennmel]

Hi there,

I am new here and new to bird feeding. I live in Hackney in London. I moved 2 months ago to a house with a garden (first time having a garden). I totally love it to bits and have planted vegetables and loads of plants and it is looking wonderful.

The only problem I am having is that for some reason there are just no birds in my garden. I have an asortment of feeders for them (not any low level feeds though cause a couple of rat's found those and I dont want to incourage them!).

About a month ago 2 blue tits used to visit, eating the peanuts I put out... but about 1 month ago they just vanished. Since then 2 blackbirds came for about a week but for the passed 3 weeks I havent seen a "dickie bird". I have peanuts in a dish, peanuts in a feeder.... 2 seed feeders... seed feeder with sunflower seeds, fat ball, suet in a half coconut (which I made myself) and monkey nuts on a string....plus fresh water.

I just cant work out what I am doing wrong.... these all hang from a tree which I think provides cover.....what else can I do ..... I am desperate for your advice.

Many thanks

woodby wildlife enthusiast.

Here a pic of my setup.
However

[Rob_D]

Hi and welcome to WAB.

Sounds like you are doing the right things. I would also suggest mealworms which seem very popular with the birds, either dried or live if you are not too squeemish. Other than that, making sure the cats keep out, if you can! Could be the lack of low level feeders is not so good for blackbirds and some others though.

The main thing is to persevere, you never know what might drop in especially as the seasons change.

Good luck!

[nightshade]

What do you have in the garden? Trees, Shrubs birds need cover as well as food.
Have a look on google Earth, see what is around you and how your garden relates to any other possible wildlife habitat you may need a very tall tree look out for BATS

[Pete Collins]

Sounds like you are doing the right things, but it can take a long time before the birds discover the food you put out. I guess especially so if there is nowhere else nearby where they feed regularly.

As nightshade says, cover is very important for the birds, and it needs to be quite close to the food/water you put out. The birds need a bush/tree nearby that they can flee to when they spot a predator. The number of birds visiting one of our feeders dropped considerably after the nearest shrub was severely cut back!

Welcome to WAB by the way! I hope you enjoy the site.

[Tursiops2]

Hi chennmel and welcome to WAB.
I agree with what's been said so far, but there's also the time of year to consider. Your local birds will be busy feeding their young on natural food so will be less likely to come to feeders. Over the next few weeks you'll probably find adults and young birds making visits to your garden and feeders as they disperse from their home territories, but the main influx will come in the winter.
HTH
T2

[djackso]

I agree - the birds in my garden seem to be off doing their own thing at the moment. I'm careful about ingredients - aflatoxin and such, so I don't think I poisoned them.

Be patient and I'm sure they'll arrive.

[djackso]

PS - I don't think your picture is visible.

[Bub-les]

Found your photo

Looks good to me
My birds seem to have gone off to do their own thing at the moment!
Even a female blackbird that was demanding food every time I went into the garden, I haven't seen her for days! No doubt they will find you eventually especially when winter comes.
Barbara

[Tracey.A]

Hi,

welcome to WAB, it's a great site! Don't worry about lack of birds, it can be quite normal to begin with. Once they realize that there is food on a regular basis they will soon start appearing in greater numbers, it just requires a bit of patience. In the mean time arm yourself with a bird book, so you can identify all the birds that will soon start to appear. It's great fun

Tracey

[djackso]

Wow, what a fabulous feast. The birds don't know what they are missing.
I'd be surprised if you don't get some wildlife soon - even if it's just the local squirrel.

[ChrisJB]

No offence, but the seed mixes look a lot like the useless cheap stuff! Get a decent tube feeder with multiple feeding ports and perches and fill it with sunflower hearts. This time of the year however is notoriously quiet, but keep putting quality food out and they will come.

Regards, Chris

[Kayleigh]

Hi chennmel and welcome to the site..

I echo everything that has been said already...
One thing I can add is please do not put hole peanuts out at this time of year. Use your peanut feeder.
Hopefully you will get some birds soon. Keep us up to date.

[RobinP]

Perhaps you could hang some of the feeders a bit higher up so the birds can see them as they fly past? They seem a bit hidden by the hedge on both sides. Failing that a big sign on the tree - 'grub this way'

[chennmel]

Thankyou everyone for your advice... I will definately persist and let you know if I get a sniff. The feeding station is in view as I sit on my PC, so I can keep a close eye on it. I will move some food above the tree as suggested and invest in some quality seed. Not seed anyone yet but it has been rather windy here today.

Thanks for all your interest and advice... I will post again as soon as I have news.

[Chas]

Having just read most of this thread it struck me that the world is in good hands all the time people like you are out there caring! I hope you get some visitors soon, I am sure you will whan the seasons change. There is lots of wild food out there at the moment and birds are bringing up their young and in pairs not little flocks/family groups. As soon as their minds are on survival and not breeding I am sure you will get lots of visitors. Don't forget to keep us informed.

[nightshade]

Originally Posted by chennmel

Thankyou everyone for your advice... I will definately persist and let you know if I get a sniff. The feeding station is in view as I sit on my PC, so I can keep a close eye on it. I will move some food above the tree as suggested and invest in some quality seed. Not seed anyone yet but it has been rather windy here today.

Thanks for all your interest and advice... I will post again as soon as I have news.

If you can see the feeders how close are you, could you be disturbing the birds,just a thought.
Sunflower hearts seem to be the least messy most attracrive to the birds
peanuts should be in a wire feeder so there is no chance of a whole nut being fed to babies