Where have all the wee birds gone?

I reckon the wrens don't actually go anywhere, they're just even harder to spot in the summer with all the foliage, and they don't sing at this time of year. I spotted one on my patio the other day; it was sitting right by a tomato planter and kept jumping up seemingly trying to catch something on the leaves.

My garden's getting livelier. I'm hearing more bird song, and the tits are regularly appearing in little mobs. No blackbirds or dunnocks yet.Had a very welcome visit from some greenfinches this week.

 

Our sparrows seem to be finding their flight wings again and are a bit more numerous and active this morning. Merlin says we have chiffchaffs and a pied flycatcher lurking inn th ehedgerows and I heard a robin singing in the wisteria this morning. Chaffinches are about but not at the feeders so it would appear all is well, mostly.

Haven't seen a chaffinch for ages but I knw they're baout as they have a distinctive call. One greenfinch spotted earlier this year. We have goldfinches but they tend to feed on the weeds in our drive which some bright previous owner covered with fine gravel. We don't spray and it's too big and hard to hoe so we just keep them mowed and that seems to suit the birds and insects.

I feed the birds all year round, if only to keep the adults healthy so they can raise healthy chicks more easily. As @fairygirl says tho, sometimes the hard part is finding juicy insects for early chicks and I have yet to find live mealworms to help in a bad year like this spring.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find a robin bathing in my bird bath yesterday. Hurrah. The inaugural visit. They've been notably absent in this neck of the woods. It made a nice change to the pigeons who usually hog the bath for themselves.

Unlike the pigeons, the robin didn't poo in the bath only to watch others drink from it. Pigeons are either dimmer than I thought or wilier than I thought. I think it's the former because it seems to be when a pigeon is just wallowing in the bath that it does its business and then continues wallowing.

 

Update: Today I saw a few robins, a few tits, a few blackbirds. Things are looking up!

Is anybody else seeing a similar shift?

 

Yes, the blackbirds are finally back and eating the rowan berries. There are dunnocks too, and lots of birdsong first thing. They must be establishing their territories again ready for the next breeding season.
Robin is singing beautifully in the rowan for most of the day.
Chiffchaffs never went away but are becoming easier to see with the leaves falling.

 

The birds are present in my garden all year round, although the blackbirds don't tend to come in much in summer as they have loads of habitat/food everywhere round here. I also don't have suitable sites for them to nest, but again, they have that in abundance nearby in the NT garden etc. The recent, young, blackie stripped all the rowan berries in my garden a while back - they weren't even properly ripe. Perhaps he was colour blind!
There were 3 robins all vying for space not long ago, so the one which was dominant still has work to do. They use the pond regularly though - this was Sunday.


Two wrens were in that day, but I only got a quick pic which wasn't very clear. The sparrows were their usual boisterous selves and enjoying the seedheads on the clematis near the back door. I spent quite a while watching them


I refill the feeders every few days because they all eat so much.

 

Sparrows are interesting @fairygirl as we have them nearby but rarely do they come in to eiter the front or back garden. I suspect it's something to do with the fact we back on to an old forest and they either don't like the big trees or the other birds.

 

All birds seem to have abandoned us. Haven’t seen one in the garden for months. Might have to start up feeding them again as we approach the cooler months but it is a mystery as to where they have gone here. Don’t even see them in the neighbours gardens. I miss the birdsong too.

 

Interesting @DiggersJo. We have loads of woodland around us [the name of my road has a direct connection to that woodland as there was loads before all the houses were built] and there's plenty just round the corner as we're only a stone's throw from a small NT garden which has woodland all along the boundary to the road, and the footpath on the garden side has mature trees and hedgin all along it too. The gardens which are nearest the road, have plenty of sparrows going back and forth from them to the hedging and to the NT garden.
The other birds don't prevent them coming in here either - they all flock in and out quite happily.

 

It is strange @fairygirl because there is about 10-20 (varies over the years) nest around 2 houses 100m away. They will come in the front garden as a crew, but not often and not for long. This is despite the fact there is loads of seeds in the garden.

 

Do you feed separately as well as having plants seeding @DiggersJo ? Perhaps those other houses nearer them have plenty of food available. My neighbour across from me has a couple of nest sites in his back garden, and they regularly fly back and forth from his to mine, where they use the plentiful restaurant facilities
I'm not sure if he feeds them though - must ask him the next time I see him. Not many folk round here do, although the woman across the other side of the road from him usually has a feeder or two in the front garden which they possibly use. I think they've had a good breeding season this year too, there's quite a few youngsters in with the adults.

 

No feeders in the front @fairygirl "Mrs Bouquet" would be mortified! I don't think many feed the sparrows over the way as I suspect they hardly feed their kids... It seems to be a troop of them that like the nesting site and/or the surroundings. Like I said they do come in the front on rare occasions, oddly I've noted often it is a Sunday - wonder if it is quieter then for them?

 

I don't think they're bothered by noise @DiggersJo - they make enough of that by themselves anyway!
I used to have feeders and a bird table in the front garden in the house we lived in nearby. It looked onto a grassed area with some woodland beyond. Always had loads of activiy. We had mature trees and then plenty of shrubs etc, and a pond too. Lot sof cover for wildlife. Treecreeper was a regular visitor too.
My house sits sideways on the road boundary, as does the chap across from me - footpath in between us. The sparrrows just fly back and forth along the boundaries. Around 150 feet in total from his back garden nest sites to the feeders in mine.

 

Have put out some food for the birds and only one Dove came and had a nibble. Tray still has plenty on it. I’m really surprised as to where they’ve all gone to.