Where are they gone?

fred funk }{

Since last Spring I have been feeding the birds in the garden and have had a steady increase of birds as the year year went on especially with Goldfinches feeding on the Nyger seed. (mad for it!)

At times there have been aprox 20 of them fighting to get onto the feeders but over the past few weeks or so they have almost disappeared and only the odd few feed from time to time. Is this a seasonal thing or has the very wet weather played its part?

corks finest

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Since last Spring I have been feeding the birds in the garden and have had a steady increase of birds as the year year went on especially with Goldfinches feeding on the Nyger seed. (mad for it!)

At times there have been aprox 20 of them fighting to get onto the feeders but over the past few weeks or so they have almost disappeared and only the odd few feed from time to time. Is this a seasonal thing or has the very wet weather played its part?

Ease off at times,think spring is their time for aggressive eating, although my brother has up to 25 plus daily ( Niger seed)

OpenYourEyes

At this time of year there's still plenty of food in the wider countryside. Results of the Irish Garden Bird Survey (starts again next week - shameless plug!) shows that numbers of most garden birds increase from the start of December to the end of February!

Pretzill

I only fill the feeders once a week - at the moment - there are still plenty of treats in the hedgerow. Birds still come everyday and there are still some nuts left by weeks end - will fill the nyger seed today and wait for the melee

seefin

fred funk }{ wrote:

At times there have been aprox 20 of them fighting to get onto the feeders but over the past few weeks or so they have almost disappeared and only the odd few feed from time to time. Is this a seasonal thing or has the very wet weather played its part?

Glad came across this thread. Have found similar, only having to replenish fat balls every 3 days. During summer had 40 or so sparrows and was wondering why they weren't feeding so much now.

Pretzill

It's also extremely mild for the time of year - maybe that plays a part too?

Birdnuts

Pretzill wrote: »

It's also extremely mild for the time of year - maybe that plays a part too?

Yep - and no sign of winter for the next few weeks by the looks of things, probably pay for it later though;)