Where all the birds have gone this year – a garden survey
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Version 0 of 1. Readers respond to a letter writer who was afraid that the hot summer had wiped out a generation of small birds The paucity of birds in Mary Julian’s Hackney garden (Letters, 18 October) is perhaps a problem of the metropolis. Here in Newcastle on the day after her letter was published we enjoyed our usual great tit, blue tit, coal tit, gold finch, chaffinch, green finch, dunnock, blackbird, robin, starling, wood pigeon and ring-necked parakeet. The weekend before, we had wren, bullfinch, jackdaw, crow and a pair of long-tailed tits; and earlier that week, we had a greater spotted woodpecker and a couple of visits by the neighbourhood sparrowhawk.Reg and Val HallNewcastle upon Tyne Perhaps the birds missing from Mary Julian’s garden have migrated five miles north-west to Crouch End. Our garden feeders regularly attract goldfinches, nuthatches, robins, dunnocks, jays, great tits, wood pigeons, blackbirds – and parakeets.Judith and Malcolm AbbsCrouch End, London “Where have all the birds gone?” asks Mary Julian. Well, quite clearly they’re in my small garden. The young who were brought here in the spring have stayed on throughout the summer, mainly because I offer a variety of food, and, more importantly, three birdbaths, refilled several times a day. Their antics in the water are pure gold to watch.Marguerite ChristmasStamford, Lincolnshire Here in the southern suburbs of Birmingham, we have seen no reduction in numbers of sparrows, blackbirds, tits and robins, despite having two active tomcats.Ted HeathOlton, West Midlands My table visitors seem reduced to an efficient number of magpies and jackdaws. Blackbirds are virtually nonexistent, dunnocks fewer, sparrows reduced. Sparrowhawks have taken many birds this year – pigeon, ring dove, blue tit – right in front of me. Bird flu has caused massive mortality among the seabirds on the nearby Lothian coast, guillemots particularly, but starvation has also been a factor.Adrian Laird CraigEdinburgh We have also lost our small garden birds. We blame the magpies – there are plenty of them.Ted PrangnellAshford, Kent Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. |