All birds vanished

[RamblingRose]

ANy ideas? Am having chilling 'silent spring' thoughts. We are surrounded by fields and woods and usually have crowds of birds visiting our feeders in the garden. Normally blue tits, great tits, robins, blackbirds, goldfinches, wrens, doves, thrushes, sparrows etc. Also for the last two weeks have had three snipe in the garden. Today - NOTHING. No birds around at all. No sound. Feeders are full, no shoot on today so no gun shots to scare them. No crop spraying yet. Where are they? Any ideas?

[Red Squirrel]

Could it be that they are finding their own food now the thaw has set in RamblingRose.

We have only a fraction of birds in the garden now the snow has gone. Even last weekend we couldn't get the food out fast enough.

[RamblingRose]

Could be but since we moved here in July this is the first day the garden hasn't been bustling with birds. None in the hedgerows etc. Eerie. I wonder if it has something to do with weather? Air pressure? It is unprecedented since the summer.

[RobinP]

Is there a cat or sparrowhawk about? I've not noticed any lack of birds visiting my feeders even now the snow's gone.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by RamblingRose

ANy ideas? Am having chilling 'silent spring' thoughts. We are surrounded by fields and woods and usually have crowds of birds visiting our feeders in the garden. Normally blue tits, great tits, robins, blackbirds, goldfinches, wrens, doves, thrushes, sparrows etc. Also for the last two weeks have had three snipe in the garden. Today - NOTHING. No birds around at all. No sound. Feeders are full, no shoot on today so no gun shots to scare them. No crop spraying yet. Where are they? Any ideas?

Hi RR,

The situation seems to be inconsistent around the Country and depending on habitat locations. We don't know yet what impact on bird populations the recent bad weather has had but I urge you to do the Big Garden Watch on 30-31 January then input your observations/bird counts into the survey if even you have to record that NO birds were sighted during the hour's window. It's only then, we can begin to get a nationwide picture of what's going on vis a vis mortality rates and possibly unusual movements.

About

Cheers.

Ps. Check the obvious explanation first, as Robin suggests. However, a bird of prey in the area is very unlikely to have driven all your birds away but a stalking/hiding cat most certainly will.

[Paul mabbott]

Far fewer birds in our garden this week than last (when thick snow) so partly I assume that many are going back to nature. Some, of course, will have died - probably a small number. However, one thing we need to consider is that birds migrated when the snow became heavy - not migrating for hundreds of miles but perhaps to somewhere more sheltered, somewhere at a lower altitude, or just somewhere that humans gave them more food! Birds aren't as attached to humans as some of us like to think - I suspect that many will be back in two-four weeks if the weather stays mild.

It's interesting to keep a record of these things over the year, see if you can correlate changes in bird abundance with the weather .....

[SheffieldLass]

They are in my garden (and my neighbours' gardens). Just seem to be getting more and more, today was the busiest yet .... Hundreds of them. They are so noisy I think they are drawing more in. No need for importing fertiliser, the ground is white in places ....

My garden is very rural, extensive woodland on one side, extensive agricultural fields on the other side.

[k4t3]

I've noticed a distinct slow down in the food consumption by the birds in my garden this week since the snow has gone. At its worst, I had loads of birds vying for position on the feeders and tables- now am down to the odd chaffinch and blackbird....
I figured it was a) because I was off work in the bad weather and spent all day watching them in the garden- now am back to work during the day and b) because they were finding their own food now the snow had gone.

I hope that I didn't lose many in the freeze as I was putting food out on a twice daily basis to keep up with demand!