bird behaviour

[twitchyt]

Please exscuse my ramble and rant.
Ramble being, l have a semi mature rowan tree in my small front garden, l5ft high, well laden with berries, last year 2-3 blackbirds stripped the berries in 3-5days, this year 90per cent gone, today see 6 blackbirds on it, 2sparrows, and unusually for me a finch, they say the berries see them through winter, but all berries gone early, and no other rowans near, so could it be the berries are more of a supplament, like us taking vitc, or they know bad weather imminent.
Also wonder with magpie,s, usually see 2-3 about, but 1-2 times a year its like a gathering of them, 12-l5 on nearby fence, roof top, wondering why
Now for the rant, the old lady who lived next door 45yrs,had mature crabapple tree,s 2, along with many shrubs, couple of blossom tree,s, the crabapple loved by the tits, goldfinch occassionally, she also had a vine hedge over the back wall 8ft high 6ft wide, evergreen, loved by bees, butterflies, seen few butterflies in my garden this year, despite 3-4 lge budleah usually with lots on, but her hedge had hundreds of bees, and doz or more butterflies late september, lovely to see. But she having died january the house was empty, till new buyer arrived oct, could have bet money and even said to my son, the chainsaw will arrive with them, and it did, within days the crabapples went, and the hedge completely, so of course birds, insects, privacy, wind break, shelter, all gone, just hoping he doesnt start on the side garden with mature blossom, acer, potentilla,s, holly, more, told him he,ll have kids passing on other side of wall gawping in, to my garden also, and some do throw stones, lead to more ugly solid sterile fencing up.
Last house l lived at the company chainsaws arrived took down l50 trees of adjoining woodland and riverside in just 4-5 hrs, lots of exscused by all involved given, media item, l0,000 fine, predictably years later several hundred houses built on site. House l lived before that, my local walk through meadowland with hedgerow also gone, 100 houses over that.
God preserve nature from chainsaws and developers, if you live in an area of small population with little development, your privialeged, protect it, being in west yorkshire, the aire valley, naturally beautiful, but much destroyed due to massively increasing population, increased development, increased pollution. l can litterally say it will be over my dead body before my tree,s and shrubs, cultivated jungle, are destroyed. Can schools emphasise and prioratise the need to love and protect nature. Rant over.

[Deb London]

Re. ramble one. The birds in my garden go for the easiest and best berries first, and will go for others later on. I imagine your Rowan tastes really good.

Re. ramble two. I guess there are months when your Magpies are busy mating and rearing young and these will be the quiet times. Someone will put me right if I have this wrong.

Re. RANT. The soul of many a wildlife haven passes with that of the "little old lady" that cared for it and appreciated it. No doubt the garden will now be filled with things that keep the new neighbours and their family and friends entertained and filled with pride. I doubt whether they will appreciate wildlife to the same extent as you, as most people do not. So the new garden will be somewhat lacking as a wildlife haven (I imagine). I feel your anger. The same with the building of houses, which I feel has far more sinister consequences than the loss of habitats for our nation as a whole.

The way I get over this is to do some conservation volunteering of a weekend. It's amazing how that energy can be put to a constructive use.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by twitchyt

l have a semi mature rowan tree in my small front garden, l5ft high, well laden with berries, last year 2-3 blackbirds stripped the berries in 3-5days, this year 90per cent gone, today see 6 blackbirds on it, 2sparrows, and unusually for me a finch, they say the berries see them through winter, but all berries gone early, and no other rowans near, so could it be the berries are more of a supplament, like us taking vitc, or they know bad weather imminent.

Birds will move around and find different food sources, berries do not normally last all winter. Birds like blackbird tend to feed on the easiest and most numerous food item they can find which is often berries at this time of year. Trees with fruits often have a good crop every two years which could be the reason for what you have seen. Birds do not store huge amounts of fat, they have to hit a equillibrium which means they have enough to survive but do not become to heavy and overcumbered, so they are not feeding up expecting extreme weather.

Originally Posted by twitchyt

Also wonder with magpie's, usually see 2-3 about, but 1-2 times a year its like a gathering of them, 12-15 on nearby fence, roof top, wondering why

Magpies often group up outside the breeding season and can be quite social. Magpies are also known to have territorial gatherings, in which a pair challenge another this in turn attracts other nearby individuals.

[Billabong Karen]

I can totally sympathise with your rant, as I am facing the same situation with the house next door to me. I am doing all I can to make my garden more wildlife friendly, so when the bulldozers turn up next door, at least the wildlife that is able to escape will find a welcoming home.

I have to say though that the power of citizens' protest is stronger than we realize. The people who live next door to my parents died a couple of years ago, and their heirs put in planning applications for 20 houses. The neighbours all rallied round and after much time and many more planning applications it now looks as though only two houses will be built on the big garden lot, with two large gardens and a green corridor in between. We should not lose heart totally, and need to be prepared to fight for the bits of green areas that we love.

[AfternoonLemon]

My neighbour has a Rowan and a flock of Starlings decimated that a couple of months ago. They are autumn berries, and tend not to last into the winter like other berries.

As for the garden being destroyed, I completely agree. It's a real shame. People do seem to prefer concrete/gravel/decking in their garden, especially if it's a small garden, and to be fair they are more ignorant than irresponsible.

Can you say that someone is irresponsible if they don't support wildlife in their garden? It's theirs to do as they please isn't it? Well no, not in my book. We're all responsible for the planet, and although we may not have individually flattened fields and woodland to build more houses, we live in those houses so are guilty by proxy. The very least we should be doing is dedicating some of our garden to wildlife.

[twitchyt]

Hi thanks for responses and info, interesting, as birds and animals are, for those that bother to look for it, on here obviously. In spring saw a hawk flying at speed to ground after a youngish jackdaw, or rook, thinking we had about 8-10 adults roost nearby, as it got near ground about 20-30 adults appeared, attack mode, amazed, didnt know outcome as behind hedge.
l hate destruction of natural envoirament and development, accepting we need homes, roads, schools, etc, problem is there are too many humans
so the loss of nature, ultimately our loss and detriment, re pollution, warmin
My bit is banging the drum when l can, small dd,s to animal and child welfare and as above planting in my patch, well overgrown for most tastes, but l love it, as with poster above on seeing tree go down or hedge, its can l fit another tree or shrub in, do l have space, is there enough light for all to thrive. Your right people power can change most things, if enough protest, often they dont, the main problem is human birthrate, still seen as a plus,as in old times. Although l dont particularly like multi storey flats, hate to live in one, but for many singles and couples with no interest in garden,s. and some like them, they are a great land saver, need more in towns, but seems council and goverment do prefer to use mass land for housing estate,s, caring little for destruction of nature site,s. Doing it again, best stop, going to volunteer for local hedgehog hospital, refuge, presently being transferred from private house and garden, donate to shop. Will look into wildlife work, a posative. Thanks again.