birds a lot less

Morganna

Has anyone noticed ,theres a lot less birds this year.Must be after the severe winter.A lot of people are saying the same thng.Bird numbers seem down .

Kess73

The cold snap did indeed decimate some bird numbers for this year, especially the smaller songbirds, but this breeding season has been quite good in terms of the number of fledglings as nature tends to have her own system of balances and checks.


People who were feeding birds all through the cold snap and who were making sure to provide a daily source of clean drinking water really did help the birds greatly, and I have a feeling those people will all be needed greatly this winter coming as there has already been talk of a longer cold spell to come.

ThunderCat

Id say the opposite to the OP - ive noticed more birds this year than in previous years particularly house sparrows, chaffinch, collared doves and magpies.

Smartypantsdig

I haven't noticed a decline among the songbirds but I have noted a decline in the numbers of ducklings and cygnets this season. There are also later breedings this year.

bogtreader

I have seen a lot more fledglings this year i agree with Kess about natures checks and balances the long cold snap certainly killed of a lot snails
i have a lot less trying to eat the broccoli this year:).I dont know if
mothman will agree not that many butterflies or moths around or are they just late? Feeding the birds is most definitely worth it

Mothman

Overall moth numbers are at their highest for years though the season is just getting going for some species such as Large Yellow Underwing. And the snails were not hit either. I'm near coast and didin't get anything -10C that was widespread inland.

Morganna

they are very scare here in east mayo especially the robins ,wrens etc.We had minus 15 and minus 20 some nights .it was awful finding the corpses of the little birds who had persished over night ,it was a very severe winter for them .

Angus Og

The only bird that seems scarce where I live in Wicklow, is the robin, though I've seen a few robin fledglings around in the last few days. I'm not sure if the winter would have affected them particularly.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Quite the opposite to the OP here. The BTO weekly surveys do not show any decline and the breeding season has been particularly good on top of that.
Numbers in gardens always drop away at this time of year - post fledging and the start of the moult.
Overall nationally numbers are up. Smaller songbirds are more or less the same as any other year. The number of young birds is significantly up.