Blue Tits getting scarce?

ballsacky

Is it just me or are blue tits getting more and more scarce? Haven't seen one in the south east area in a long time now.

jolatacqce

I put out the feeders on Wed.9,this wk.for the first time,since last April,yesterday I had Blue,Coal,and Great tits,also a little flock of about a doz.goldfinches,alongside the resident sparrows. I'm in East Cork,Youghal town.

Birdnuts

Last 2 winters have hit the populations of many small year-round resident species hard - the likes of Stonechats are very scarce too. The good thing though is that these species can bounce back fast as has been the case in the past after severe winters - within a few years the population should have recovered.

Half-cocked

In many areas the first blue tit broods appear to have failed this year due to lack of food - the weather was responsible for this (My Dad had 3 nestbox broods starve to death in his garden). Coupled with the last 2 winters killing a lot of birds, there could very well be a lack of blue tits and many other species in some areas.

Mickeroo

Was a very bad season for berries and the like. Quite a lot of Rowan trees never sprouted fruit this year at all around here, it all stems from the strong wind back in may I think, most of the trees never fully recovered.

Having said that there's been a few blue-tits in the garden so far, not as often as last year though.

Trotter

I've a suburban garden in the south east and I've noticed a huge drop in the numbers of small birds visiting the feeders.

Oddly enough there's a massive amount of starlings. They seem to just plunder the food I put out and scatter it. They knock the feeders constantly. I'd actually put the lack of small birds down to them being bullied out by the starlings. Maybe I got it wrong and theres few around in the first place.

Birdnuts

Half-cocked wrote: »

In many areas the first blue tit broods appear to have failed this year due to lack of food - the weather was responsible for this (My Dad had 3 nestbox broods starve to death in his garden). Coupled with the last 2 winters killing a lot of birds, there could very well be a lack of blue tits and many other species in some areas.

Yeah - the breeding season was poor for many species with the month of May deleivering nothing but cold windy weather which would have hit vital insect food supplies hard, followed by the coldest summer for 25+ years in many areas:(

cscook

Mickeroo wrote: »

Was a very bad season for berries and the like. Quite a lot of Rowan trees never sprouted fruit this year at all around here, it all stems from the strong wind back in may I think, most of the trees never fully recovered.

Do they have a name for that wind? Trying to remember what they call it down in Dingle, something like the scairbhín ??

Jeepers, there are masses of rowan berries here (west Dublin). It seemed to me that they were very early - certainly early July, possibly even late June. Not so many now as I've been seeing the birds eating them , and a good lot blew down in the strong winds last week.
I reckon we have the same number of blue tits on the garden feeders as last year, and I see a fair few when I walk along the canal. But I don't know that I've noticed as many on the road down to Phoenix Park, now I think about it.