Weather taking it's toll.

[Wild-Woman]

Today at work I found the body of a male chaffinch. There wasn't a mark on it, the feathers were fine and it's neck wasn't broken, ruling out a window collision. It was a bit on the skinny side, so I'm guessing that it just couldn't find food and succumbed to the extreme weather.

The massive amount of gritting of roads during this weather may have an affect on the diversity along roadsides in the future too. I suspect they'll be a loss of certain plants or even a change in species ie, plants that are more used to salt marshes.


And no frogs here. Last year, they were getting busy in the ponds. At the moment, the freeze seems to be stopping play.

It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the year pans out and whether nature will fight back.

[Gill Catton]

the salting of roads can result in the poisoning of small birds too as they eat the seeds alongside the salted roads which are not frozen (due to being salty).

Have to say though... I have two full seed feeders out there and virtually nothing visits them, blackbirds are eating the apples I put on the ground though.
(actually I wonder if the feeders are too far frm the hedge as there are always birds in the hedge)
Starlings seem to have massively decreased in numbers - I wonder if they've moved south to avoid the snows?

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

And no frogs here. Last year, they were getting busy in the ponds. At the moment, the freeze seems to be stopping play.

After the last little cold snap a week or so back, I popped up the allotment to dump some compost off and found 4 dead frogs floating in the pond. Very sad. Fortunately I had wandered over to check the pond before taking the Little Girl over to see it, not sure how I would have explained that.

I just figure that this is all pretty natural in the long run. I recall at Uni learning that notwithstanding the population decline due to habitat loss, that the biggest leveller in populations is winter, and that whatever is left after the winter eases off bounces back to fill in the available space to the same extent no matter how severe things get (within reason of course!). Hope that bears out this year, it will be interesting to see. It used to be like this all the time in Winter, and we still have wildlife left to admire.

[ron1863]

My feeders are situated in and around a large Jasmine bush/shrub, which is growing up a trellis and we get hudreds of birds every day, from Tits, Robins, Finches etc. and largewr birds such as Wood Pigeons and Magpies.
I have noticed that the fat balls within the shrub are more readily eaten than the ones hanging from the fence out in the open, so placing your feeders near some foiliage could help.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

The massive amount of gritting of roads during this weather may have an affect on the diversity along roadsides in the future too. I suspect they'll be a loss of certain plants or even a change in species ie, plants that are more used to salt marshes.

That's already happening - there are plenty of maritime plants expanding their range along major roads!

henrya

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by thunder

That's already happening - there are plenty of maritime plants expanding their range along major roads!

henrya

Agree- this has been happening for years. Danish Scurvy Grass in particular has been very successful colonising central reservations + the verges of many major roads, giving a coating of white flowers in the early spring. Buck's-horn Plantain is another halophyte doing well inland. some of the saltgrasses such as Puccinellia have started to appear inland as have some of the sea spurries, Spergula spp. I'm sure there are others too.

[Daisychain]

Dead frogs too..... very sad, the ice on our pond has been so thick & just as it thaws out, we have more snow and it freezes again. Roll on warmer weather.

[Les E]

HI There,
I found a dead Robin a couple of days ago but it dident look malnourished.The birds are acting a bit oddly just now.The Crows are tearing down my feeders and birds are entering the house and flying around the sitting room much to the cats amazement!I also have a male Blackbird that has learned to hang from the fat hanger.Im fed up with this weather and hope it warms up soon.We dont want a 1963 scenario with birds dropping dead and falling from the trees.
Regards Les.

[aeshna5]

I was pleased to see normal numbers of all species during a visit to Richmond Park today + London had a good covering of snow for a few days + sub-zero temperatures. Even the vulnerable species looked good + still more Goldcrests than most years.

I think it is really prolonged cold that kills. Hopefully just the weak have fallen by the wayside + we start the spring with good numbers of healthy birds.

[RobinP]

I'm worried about the lack of smaller birds this week, I haven't seen any Blue Tits in the garden and only 1 Wren, a few LTT's though, no Goldcrest but they are a bit hit and miss at the best of times.