The birds ain’t coming.

Wait till autumn birds are nesting and staying out of sight maybe October onwards then you can steal someone else’s garden birds.

It takes smaller birds a while to suss out something new. I was wondering why I had no birds in my garden and then I realised that I had hung CDs in the plum tree to keep the pigeons away from the first fruit we’ve had for years. It worked for a while until the pigeons got wise but the movement and the sun reflecting all over the garden also kept the little birds at bay. So I took them down. Almost immediately, back came the sparrows, the robins, the blue tits and, to my great joy, the goldfinches who love to feed on the spent cornflower heads.

I've tried quite a few types of bird food, but we almost never see the smaller birds. Pigeons and squirrels arrive in minutes, and sometimes magpies. We get quite excited if we spot a sparrow or a blackbird!

I think we have blackbirds nesting in a thick climbing plant again this year 🤞

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This is my small garden and I am getting the same problem very few birds coming in fact lately I’ve only seen the blackbird on the bird tables
That’s not to say that they’re not coming. I have nesting boxes up for Robin’s and other small birds but have not seen any activity with those either.
I put softened, dried mealworms out and they are always gone by the end of the day
I have always read that we should feed garden birds all year round but now somebody is saying that we’re not meant to feed them at this time of year 🤷‍♀️

Shinamae

This is my small garden and I am getting the same problem very few birds coming in fact lately I’ve only seen the blackbird on the bird tables
That’s not to say that they’re not coming. I have nesting boxes up for Robin’s and other small birds but have not seen any activity with those either.
I put softened, dried mealworms out and they are always gone by the end of the day
I have always read that we should feed garden birds all year round but now somebody is saying that we’re not meant to feed them at this time of year 🤷‍♀️

I also meant to say, I have had no frogspawn or frogs that I can see (or hear)in my pond this year 🤷‍♀️

What a green and peaceful garden Shinamae. It's absolutely beautiful. Do you think perhaps the birds are finding plenty of food naturally because it's such a good habitat and that they have no need for the feeders?

If you put food out for me I would definitely come to visit and spend a few hours in your garden.

we've grown an evergreen clematis on the fence behind the bird feeder along with a climbing rose and the little birds hide in it whilst popping out to feed

good quality bird feed is a must too.

I love your garden Shinamae

We know that pigeons are prolific breeders but I’ve noticed that localised numbers have increased dramatically since several neighbours had solar panels installed. The birds like to gather along the roof ridges and can be seen crawling under the panels. The upside is that being woken up very early in summer by pigeons cooing in now less frequent for me as they are hanging out on other people’s roofs.

I know pigeons can nest in little more than a scrape of a few twigs so are they nesting under solar panels or are they just going under the panels for warmth and shelter?

Is it the law of unintended consequences that the increase in solar panels is contributing to the reduction in the number of small birds visiting our gardens because they are being increasingly outnumbered by the larger birds?

Churchview

What a green and peaceful garden Shinamae. It's absolutely beautiful. Do you think perhaps the birds are finding plenty of food naturally because it's such a good habitat and that they have no need for the feeders?

If you put food out for me I would definitely come to visit and spend a few hours in your garden.

Thank you so much..😁

JaneJudge

I love your garden Shinamae

Thank you 🤗

We used to have a garden full of birds then a new cat moved into the neighbourhood and now there are no birds, not only in our garden but all around. We've had to stop putting food out as no birds appear and the rats were getting fat.

I loved our bird feeder and had lots of birds, despite having a cat - she wasn’t interested in the birds. Unfortunately the local rat population were interested in the food supply and we could see them in the middle of the day eating what the birds had dropped on the ground. We got rid of the bird feeder and have not seen a rat since. I appreciate the rats are still around but no longer interested in our garden as a source of food.

My mother was a dedicated bird-feeder, and they definitely used to arrive when they knew she would be putting food out for them. She once came out with 'I feel sorry for the birds, they don't know why I'm late feeding them every morning!'after the clocks went forward for British Summer Time!

Inviting people to see the birds sounds like a fabulous idea to me. I love seeing wild birds close up, they're so pretty.

It takes time. They like nearby cover - situate near a shrub or small tree if possible. They also like water near their feeder.

Clean feeders regularly. Feed sparsely in summer. Clear up spillage that pigeons don't hoover up or you'll get rats.

I hung a basket containing nuts in a tree, it lasted a few hours then the squirrels had it. They hung off the basket part, which fell off and spread out the nuts underneath. Shakes fist at squirrels

I agree with Aldom: you just have to wait!

Well, good luck with that. I've been trying for years but only the seagulls arrived, given up. Our home is near the sea.

Birds seem to take at least 3 weeks before they will approach a new bird feeder. You will probably see them flitting around staring at it before they land.

My neighbour & I share our birds. We have been adopted by some pigeons from a nearby loft. They are not well looked after so spend all day with us. I have an unused washing line against my bushes that have nests in. So have pegged hanging feeders with seeds & fat balls in. Also filled shells as the Starlings love them for their babies. All the food dropped is not wasted. The pigeons clear everything before leaving for the night so, touch wood, we do not see rats! My neighbour hangs her feeders where they are protected too & so far we have out of the 35 counted, before giving up as more came in, baby Starlings only lost two to magpies (hate them) & one to a Sparrow hawk! We are surrounded by small trees & large bushes so plenty of cover. All the noisy babies are out on their own now & the sparrows & our resident Robin are nesting so waiting for those babies! Love my wild garden!

It takes a long time for them to get used to a new food source. We have had bird feeders in our front garden for years, and still we sometimes wonder where they all are, then, once nesting they come back! Sometimes we don't see the goldfinches for months then they come by the dozen! We also get blue tits, sparrows and the robin scrounges what gets dropped on the grass. Don't give up hope. After lots of experimenting we only put out sunflower hearts in the summer and add fat balls in autum/winter.

The problem with siting the feeding table near cover for the small birds is that squirrels can climb up the vegetation (and indeed a fence) and snaffle the food. A great deal of the stuff I put out for the birds gets scoffed by a squirrel - but to be fair he/she is quite cute!

The small birds are more attracted to my bird bath and at this time of year drink from it, as do bigger birds too. Oh - and Mr Squirrel! - he likes a drink.

I used to have several feeders around the garden and a wide variety of birds but then found that the smaller birds were being frightened away by crows/ravens and wood pigeons . Later we had a problem with mice feeding from dropped bird food so have now stopped altogether. Really miss seeing the woodpeckers.

You need a garden with small shrubs and bushes if you want the small birds to visit, they like to land observe then come over from a safe vantage point. Give them time if you have the right setting they will visit soon.