Changes in bird numbers

[Tringa]

Bekki's thread about the sighting of Gadwall made me think.

What are the birds that folks have seen increasing or decreasing over the years?

I have lived in the same house in east London for 30 years.

Over that time, in and and close to the garden, the changes I've seen have been

a decrease in -

twany owls, house sparrows, kestrels

an increase in -

green woodpeckers, greater spotted woodpeckers, sparrowhawks and foxes.

In the nearest park, which has a few lakes, gadwalls, herons, kingfishers, little egrets and terrapins have increased.

Dave

[Guinnessman1974]

I've been a birdwatcher - on and off - over the last 25 years or so. The species I have seen general increases, from casual observations across the U.K:

Goldfinch
Little Egret
Buzzard
Red Kite
Mallard

And the decreases:
Sky Lark
Willow Warbler
Starling
Kestrel (used to be a very familiar sight all along motorway verges, no longer though, I wonder why - drop in Vole numbers maybe?)

There are loads of House Sparrows where I live, we regularly have 5-6 visiting our garden at one time.

Other decreases in Wildlife: All bumblebees (drastic reduction, compared to when I was a kid), Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, Toads.

[Acipiter]

Google this, contents of the state of the nations birds, it will give you a long list of birds, that you can find their numbers of, straight out of Chris mead book. I think you will find it very interesting. I brought this book a few years a go in 05, I am fairly sure its been up dated since then.

[~T~]

Around here for me it's blackbirds and thrushes in decline. I rarely see blackbirds and almost never see thrushes. Gulls and magpies seem to be on the increase where I live too.

Dave you mention terrapins. Where is this park located if you dont mind me asking as I've never observed feral terrapins in Scotland (shoot me a pm if you dont want to say in the open forum).

[~T~]

Ahhh I'm guessing it's London and not Scotland, nevermind

[Deb London]

In various places in the UK I have seen changes in many species:

Decline:

House Sparrows, Bullfinches, Common Snipe, Little Owls, Linnets, Greenfinches, Willow Warblers, Starlings.

[Frogs]

Increase:

Goldfinches, Oyster Catchers, Red Kites, Coal Tits, Collared Doves, Wood Pigeons.

[Foxes]

[nightshade]

I looked at your list Deb and nodded in agreement, I get many Gull species and ex-woodland birds turning up, four Rooks this morning along with six Collar Doves and half a dozen Woodpigeon, two Greater Spotted Woodpeckers
There are Shags or Cormorants flying by not the more usual Mallards.

[twitchyt]

In my area of west yorks, when growing up in the 50s, song and mistle thrush daily garden visitors, also large flocks of sparrow and starlings, more finch,s, and tawny owls, cuckoo heard daily in season,. Now seem to have more blackbirds, and tits, with increases in opportunist feeders of peoples dropped takeaway food re pigeons, gulls, magpie, rook, whilst the sparrow hawk and falcon seem to be doing ok. Good sight to see a large flock of any bird, now rare here, usually overhead passing geese of 50 plus.

[twitchyt]

Yes, also increase in woodpigeons and collared dove, and remember seeing catterpillars in abundance as a kid, fluffy,s and green mainly, also less ladybirds, cranefly, ants rarely seen from masses of them in past, drier longer summers then, no monsoon type rains, snails not seen above size of a pea, now huge tomata size ones. Local river and marshland used to have many newts, snipe, harrier, swans on the river and rainbow trout,cleaner water, now rare, an area thats had a lot of development and draining, mass people increase and building that goes with it. Guard your precious rural area,s.

[counterlady]

Definately Starlings, Blackbirds, Thrushes have gone down in numbers since I moved into our house 12 years ago. The Starlings especially were everywhere.

There is an abundance of Gulls which swoop down on the kids at dinner times - trust me there's not a beach in sight

I also remember as a kid newts, frogs, hedgehogs in our gardens I dont think my kids have ever seen any in their natural habitat.

I'm glad to say that the same amount of Swallows keep appearing each year - such beautiful birds