Here goes….

Moved into our home 3 years ago, its on a new housing estate, where they scatter the houses like lego blocks!

In our old home, we managed to attract a wonderful varity of birds to a feeders, without too much trouble.

But here for some reason, its like a desert for birds, as its a recent development, there are no real mature Trees about. & all the garden are fairly free of any safe spots for birds.

So I have spent time planting a range of plants and trees to attract birds to our garden, which include ivy, ferns, fruit trees, evergreen Honeysuckles, and a boundry hawthorn, as well as other.

We have plenty of feeders in varied positions in the garden, which are cleaned and restocked often, we tend to make our own seed fat balls but offer as well, fruit, water and nigella seeds.

Last year we managed to attract 5-6 goldfinches for a while, a month at the most, see pic, but apart from that and the odd pidgeon or Dove, we have completly blanked!

Any tips?

Goldfinches by scotiedog, on Flickr

I’ve found that placing seed feeders in or near very dense bushes encourages birds to feed. It can be difficult to see them, but they feel safer. Do you have a resident Robin? They can be quite aggresive and scare other birds away.

Not seen a local Robin here for years!

(I do have a very tame one at my allotment that follows me about when I am up there, sits on my spade handle and waits for grubs that I dig up 😉

Yes, most all of the feeders are located where there is cover for them, such as next to the Honeysuckles & trees.

I seem to have no problem with other wildlife, we have a couple hedghog that we feed cat food to, huge number of frogs and slow worms, which are great to see in the garden.

o real mature Trees about. & all the garden are fairly free of any safe spots for birds.

Sounds like the issue. As redfordrider says, a lot of smaller birds like to perch safely near a feeder and check it out before feeding.

Good cover from big shrubs, bushes or tree definitely helps.

most all of the feeders are located where there is cover for them

In that case… hmmm.. any cats about?

I have plenty of cover for them in my garden, but tbh, all around me most of the gardens are just blank lawns with no real cover at all?

GrahamS – Member

most all of the feeders are located where there is cover for them

In that case… hmmm.. any cats about?

Never seen a cat in our garden yet, but yes there are some about.

It is a bit strange though. You should expect to see some large, mixed groups of tits moving about from garden to garden in the winter. There is less cover and the birds use numbers to keep an eye out for sparrow hawks and cats. They can move long distances to find water when everything is frozen.

The need to encourage other people in your area to create a bird friendly area. You could help advertise the RSPB Big Garden Watch that ends 17 Feb http://www.rspb.org.uk/

I did think its a bit weird..

We do have, a stone throw away, a mature Oak woodland, so I guess there is no real reason for any bird life to travel over to Lego land, when they have the proper thing to play/live in?

Thanks for the link, will check it out.

Small birds have been much fewer in gardens this winter due to the relatively warm temperatures making food more readily available, meaning they don’t have to scrounge from us. At least this is what the RSPB is saying. However, it may be due to them trying to eat the dubious German cake I threw out last week.