Bird shortage is no flight of fancy
READER Peter Robinson (Letters, October 1) asked why garden birds appear to be in decline. One reason is an increase in the number of magpies over the decades. They are voracious predators and very clever. Various birds have nested in my garden, including wood pigeons, blackbirds, wrens and long-tailed tits. But all have been predated by magpies and this year, none has successfully reared young. The magpies either take the eggs or the fledglings and are very adept at finding nests. In areas where magpie numbers are controlled by farmers or gamekeepers, bird numbers seem to hold up well. And, much as we all like cats, we must accept that they also kill many birds. raY WILLIaMS, kinnersley, Worcs.
IN MY garden, magpies seized almost every fledgling as it left the nest. If only it were easier for farmers to control numbers of this cruel, rapacious bird again.
SuSaN ELLIOtt, Newcastle upon tyne.
I’D LIKE to invite Peter Robinson to visit our ‘bird garden’. During lockdown my husband dug out a large pond, put up a dozen nesting boxes and created four feeding stations. Now we are inundated with birds, including sparrows, tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, woodpeckers, blackbirds, song thrushes, starlings and a pheasant. We love to watch sparrows bathing in the pond and bats swooping over it in the evening.
GILLIaN WarD, Milby, N. Yorks.
TOO many people have gardens full of bird-feeders and fat balls, which just encourage pigeons, magpies, squirrels and rats. The smaller birds are chased off.
Where I live, the pigeons are huge, the magpies aggressive and rats come out in daylight to feast on the bird food dropped by these overfed creatures. Feeders are unnecessary; all birds need is a bowl of water in the freezing winter or on hot, sunny days.
JEaN MarCrOFt, Spital, Merseyside.
SONGBIRD numbers are declining here, too. In our area, flocks of sparrows and starlings seem to be almost non-existent, and there are fewer swallows and swifts. I have travelled widely since we were released from lockdown but haven’t needed to clean insects from my car windscreen once. Fewer insects means fewer of the birds that rely on them for food. Maybe there really is something happening to our planet.
DaVID rIDING, Darwen, Lancs.
I AM told by a twitcher friend that birds moult in August and go into hiding until their new feathers have grown. They will return soon.
FaY GOODWIN, Lutterworth, Leics.
WHY the lack of birds? The answer is simple. It is estimated that in the UK, cats kill 55 million of them a year.
B. QuELCH, Bognor regis, W. Sussex.
SORRY Peter, the birds have been visiting my garden this year. I’ve never seen so many species. MarY BOtHaMLEY, Chesterfield, Derbys.
WE USUALLY put out 10 kg of sunflower seed a week for small birds, plus porridge oats for the bigger ones that can’t easily use feeders. This season we saw only six or seven goldfinches, when once it was more than 30 at a time. Likewise with starlings, which covered the ground when we put out oats. This year, nothing. MICHaEL LONSDaLE,
tarleton, Lancs.