No birds on my feeder.

[molibdimum]

We bought a feeding station approx 8 months ago and initially had lots of visits mainly from Sparrows and the odd blue tit.
Weve got the usuall mixed seed,fat balls and peanuts etc.
The feeder is situated close to a conifer hedge and in between shrubs.
Over the last month we have had absolutely no interest in the feeder what so ever.
I ant understand why with the cold weather coming in.
Any suggestions?

[glsammy]

Firstly, Welcome to WAB.
The only thing I would say is what cold weather?? It's still very mild, no frost, plenty of berries on the trees, even fruit is still there, soft ground with lovely worms etc available! My garden is very similar, very low bird numbers at present. I think we need a few hard frosts out there to force them to look further a field.

[molibdimum]

Great thanks....its not just me then.

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by molibdimum

Great thanks....its not just me then.

Certainly noit just you. Mine has been ignored totally too and the peanuts are now well past their best. I will have to replace them and start over, but will include some sunflower seeds too. I also bought some fat balls but canty reach up to hang them and will have to wait for the window cleaners

[Ollie]

Hi molibdimum, a warm welcome to WAB.
I think Graham is right about the weather being the reason. All we are getting on our feeders at present is a few House Sparrows now and again. We don't get that many birds because we only have a small open plan garden, but in more severe weather we do get most of the common birds Tit's, Finches and Starlings etc.
Roger

[Wolfhill]

The opposite seems to be happening up here the weather has been pretty poor over the last month and I've seen an influx in the number of birds visiting my garden every day.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I feed the birds at work, as some may have read in my Diary. And can't fill the feeders quick enough, i often look out to a dozen or more birds hanging around the feeder. But the feeder is in a very quiet place with hardly any distrubance I think it's just the look of the draw really, i sometimes wonder if the people who feed the birds around work are wondering where they've all gone to now i'm feeding them

[cherrybee]

Hi molibdimum, and a very warm welcome to WAB

[Tormentil]

I too have noticed a drop off in birds coming to my feeders. Up till a week or so ago, I was having to refill the sun flower feeder every day. Thats dropped off to every 2nd or 3rd day !!

[Paul mabbott]

Well, it's cooler and windier today. It was last week (starting on Monday) that a lot of birds returned to our garden). For months there have been only 6-8 species with 12-15 indivifuals but after two days last week the count was 27 individuals (minimum) of 13 species. Surprising because it was quite mild .... There's a lot of activity now on conifers (goldcrests, tits &c) and we should soon be getting the migrants?

[aeshna5]

Though it's been incredibly mild in London, just a few light frosts at start of Nov, lots of natural food about, my feeders empty so quickly- I reckon I've got most of the city's House Sparrows these days + my 2 hanging feeders with trays, get up to 20 Collared Doves queueing (or fighting!) for seed as well as all the other birds getting their share. Expensive pastime this feeding business!

[MTR]

Hi

I run 2 very large Bird feeders on a nature reserve in Leicestershire and so far this winter period we have hardly seen any birds using it. This is all most certainly due to the mild conditions we are experiencing at the moment. The temperature on the reserve today was 10o C which I think is very unseasonal.
We normally hit our peak numbers in January / February so we will wait and see what happens then.
At this time of year we would expect all the Hawthorn bushes to have been striped of berries by our visiting winter thrushes, but the Hawthorns are still loaded with berries

MTR

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by MTR

Hi

I run 2 very large Bird feeders on a nature reserve in Leicestershire and so far this winter period we have hardly seen any birds using it. This is all most certainly due to the mild conditions we are experiencing at the moment. The temperature on the reserve today was 10o C which I think is very unseasonal.
We normally hit our peak numbers in January / February so we will wait and see what happens then.
At this time of year we would expect all the Hawthorn bushes to have been striped of berries by our visiting winter thrushes, but the Hawthorns are still loaded with berries

MTR

I'd noticed that when I was there a couple of weeks ago Mark. I was pleased to see the feeders there, but no signs of any activity.

[Wild-Woman]

My goldies are back with avengence. The nyjer feeder-a 20 port one-is being emptied weekly. About a dozen attack it every day. Wish it wasn't so bloomin expensive-even buying it off the net, by the sackload still turns pricey.
The greenfinches and chaffinches never went away. Just be pleased to see some siskins again-fingers crossed.

[Dan Salter]

Someone has probably already said this but i think the lack of interest over the last month or so is due to the huge abundance of wild food available at this time of year and with a bumper crop and harvest this year, the countryside and gardens have been full of nuts, seeds and berries.....it would seem this is now over as in the last week my feeding station has just erupted into life ( i posted about this elsewhere) infact in a short recording session yesterday ( less than 40 mins) i recorded
Blue tits
Great tits
Coal tits
Robins
Starlings
Goldcrests
Thrush
Blackbirds
Chaffinch
Green Finch
Collared doves
Magpie
Dunnocks
and house sparrows

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, in some places there are still berries on the trees; but around here they went a month ago. During the summer and early autumn had absolutely no blackbirds but at the beginning of November at least four appeared and almost overnight all the rowan, elder, cherry laurel and other berries disappeared!
But yes, why should birds come into gardens when they have lots of seed and fruit to eat in the comfort and safety of trees and hedgerows.

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Someone has probably already said this but i think the lack of interest over the last month or so is due to the huge abundance of wild food available at this time of year and with a bumper crop and harvest this year, the countryside and gardens have been full of nuts, seeds and berries.....it would seem this is now over as in the last week my feeding station has just erupted into life ( i posted about this elsewhere)