I live in South London and we have a large garden which used to be full of garden birds, but now it’s mostly pigeons, magpies, crows and yellow parakeets which I’m not keen on. I wonder why? We do get the odd robin though but there was one that became quite tame years ago.
You’re not the first person I’ve heard saying that recently 😕 We’ve been feeding the birds for years now, I suspect that supplementing their food supply for so long has increased their numbers to well above average around here. But I’ve still noticed a decline in some species, like yellowhammers. Haven’t seen as many woodpeckers this year either. I used to hear them pecking in the distance all the time. Did see one the other day. I visited London recently and was fairly puzzled by the parakeets. I’m not sure what’s causing the bird decline but I hope they bounce back. Might be a few different things contributing. I know cats are one element people bring up, since the majority of cats in the UK go outdoors. We’ve seen cats around here eating little birds when presented with the opportunity 😐
@@WildlifeInScotland Yes, actually we also get jays. In fact it occurred to me it’s the larger birds that may be a problem as both jays and magpies eat other birds and those magpies are quite aggressive. It’s the blackbirds, song thrushes, blue tits and sparrows I miss. I used to love watching the sparrows washing themselves in our birdbath but haven’t seen them doing that for around three or four years. I also used to love listening to a song thrush singing on a summer’s evening. Re the cats, yes I agree, our neighbours have two cats which are outdoor cats and they spend their days sitting on their garden shed roof looking for birds. On occasion I’d see one of them hiding next to a bush in our garden in that stance they assume when they’re ready to pounce on some poor unsuspecting bird. One day I noticed an amount of birds feathers on the lawn and assumed a fox had killed a bird (possibly a pigeon from the colour of the feathers). As we have cctv all around our house I rewound to the relevant section and was surprised to see footage of a sparrow hawk swoop at a pigeon in flight and bring it down pinning it to the ground and stand on its neck whilst starting to peck feathers off the pigeon…it did this for around two minutes with the pigeon occasionally struggling, but then a giant crow came and landed nearby observing the scene and it caused the hawk to abandon its prey and fly away leaving the pigeon to get itself together and fly off. PS. We used to get the odd woodpecker but again haven’t seen one for at least four years.
Oh yes, I’ve definitely seen larger birds taking small birds sometimes. It’s horrible. What really broke my heart last spring was there was a tree creeper making a nest in a large half rotten fence post in the garden. I observed it for days, it was taking tons of twigs into the post. It was just before I started recording content. But I was aware the hole it was going into was quite close to the ground, around knee height. And then one morning I came out and the badgers had scratched their way through the rotten wood into the post and eaten it. I found one tree creeper leg on the ground and it just seemed so utterly wasteful because they’re quite rare, and the food value of such a tiny bird to a badger would be nothing at all. And we already gave the badgers dog biscuits at the time because they had babies! Fortunately the blue tit nest in the top of the post was alright and produced 8 chicks. 🥲 Still sad about that tree creeper though.
Parakeets ? Aren’t they mainly in Australia though? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m an American after all. I remember parakeets as the exotic tropical bird that makes a great starter pet for your kid .. parakeets /budgies, idk if there is a difference
@witcoin54 I’m mindful of what I put out - the corned beef was already a reduced salt product, but it also got boiled and rinsed to get any remaining salt out of it, before being mixed with the unseasoned potatoes. Figured it had to be better than the cat food they’ve been stealing from the barn cat, which does have minerals like salt added. And the added bonus of reducing the risk of being eaten by the cat 😅 Edit to add they do also have access to water and bird seed. I tried mealworms but they just seemed rather perplexed by them tbh. Had a good look, didn’t touch them 🤔
This is just lovely
Thanks 😊
I really enjoyed watching these birds having a hot meal on a cold day. Thanks for sharing!
That's really nice. I didn't know about giving them a hot meal-I will try it.
Cute dinosaurs you've got there.
Wow. Wonderful feel good video. Thanks a lot.
Glad you liked it! 😊
this i honestly the sort of videos that give me hopein humanity
❤️😊
Thank you for sharing a nice little meal as well as the results :)
Very sweet little video
😊 Thank you!
Adorable birbs
This is so lovely!!! Made me smile !! :^) Thank you for doing this, I’m sure all those beautiful birdies appreciate it
Glad you liked it! 😊
KIRTLANDS WARBLER?!?!?!?!?
Beautiful.... like "my left beak"
I live in South London and we have a large garden which used to be full of garden birds, but now it’s mostly pigeons, magpies, crows and yellow parakeets which I’m not keen on. I wonder why? We do get the odd robin though but there was one that became quite tame years ago.
You’re not the first person I’ve heard saying that recently 😕 We’ve been feeding the birds for years now, I suspect that supplementing their food supply for so long has increased their numbers to well above average around here. But I’ve still noticed a decline in some species, like yellowhammers. Haven’t seen as many woodpeckers this year either. I used to hear them pecking in the distance all the time. Did see one the other day.
I visited London recently and was fairly puzzled by the parakeets. I’m not sure what’s causing the bird decline but I hope they bounce back. Might be a few different things contributing. I know cats are one element people bring up, since the majority of cats in the UK go outdoors. We’ve seen cats around here eating little birds when presented with the opportunity 😐
@@WildlifeInScotland Yes, actually we also get jays. In fact it occurred to me it’s the larger birds that may be a problem as both jays and magpies eat other birds and those magpies are quite aggressive. It’s the blackbirds, song thrushes, blue tits and sparrows I miss. I used to love watching the sparrows washing themselves in our birdbath but haven’t seen them doing that for around three or four years. I also used to love listening to a song thrush singing on a summer’s evening. Re the cats, yes I agree, our neighbours have two cats which are outdoor cats and they spend their days sitting on their garden shed roof looking for birds. On occasion I’d see one of them hiding next to a bush in our garden in that stance they assume when they’re ready to pounce on some poor unsuspecting bird. One day I noticed an amount of birds feathers on the lawn and assumed a fox had killed a bird (possibly a pigeon from the colour of the feathers). As we have cctv all around our house I rewound to the relevant section and was surprised to see footage of a sparrow hawk swoop at a pigeon in flight and bring it down pinning it to the ground and stand on its neck whilst starting to peck feathers off the pigeon…it did this for around two minutes with the pigeon occasionally struggling, but then a giant crow came and landed nearby observing the scene and it caused the hawk to abandon its prey and fly away leaving the pigeon to get itself together and fly off. PS. We used to get the odd woodpecker but again haven’t seen one for at least four years.
Oh yes, I’ve definitely seen larger birds taking small birds sometimes. It’s horrible. What really broke my heart last spring was there was a tree creeper making a nest in a large half rotten fence post in the garden. I observed it for days, it was taking tons of twigs into the post. It was just before I started recording content. But I was aware the hole it was going into was quite close to the ground, around knee height. And then one morning I came out and the badgers had scratched their way through the rotten wood into the post and eaten it. I found one tree creeper leg on the ground and it just seemed so utterly wasteful because they’re quite rare, and the food value of such a tiny bird to a badger would be nothing at all. And we already gave the badgers dog biscuits at the time because they had babies! Fortunately the blue tit nest in the top of the post was alright and produced 8 chicks. 🥲 Still sad about that tree creeper though.
@@WildlifeInScotland Yes very sad. Thank you for the conversation. It’s good to compare notes from one end of the UK to the other!
Parakeets ? Aren’t they mainly in Australia though? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m an American after all. I remember parakeets as the exotic tropical bird that makes a great starter pet for your kid .. parakeets /budgies, idk if there is a difference
i hope that that food didnt have salt in it
@witcoin54 I’m mindful of what I put out - the corned beef was already a reduced salt product, but it also got boiled and rinsed to get any remaining salt out of it, before being mixed with the unseasoned potatoes. Figured it had to be better than the cat food they’ve been stealing from the barn cat, which does have minerals like salt added. And the added bonus of reducing the risk of being eaten by the cat 😅
Edit to add they do also have access to water and bird seed. I tried mealworms but they just seemed rather perplexed by them tbh. Had a good look, didn’t touch them 🤔
Oh God. Shut up. They'll eat straight out of the dumpster.
cute
@@5un5hine1 They are, they’re always bobbing around having a look at what you’re doing outside 😂