Sunday 6 November 2011

Where Have all the Birds Gone? + Hedgehog Visitor

It has become a rare event to see a bird in the garden recently. The only regulars are a couple of Dunnocks. Even the Wood Pigeons and House Sparrows have deserted the garden. Part of the reason will be an outbreak of the dreaded Finch Disease (Trichomonosis). About ten days ago I saw two Greenfinches and one Goldfinch showing typical symptoms of the disease. That meant I had to take down the feeders from the Birdy Bistro to discourage the birds from gathering in large numbers. I did put one small seed feeder in a different part of the garden and a couple of peanut feeders with a mix of peanuts and fat pellets but there have been hardly any takers.

The only other regular is a Hedgehog. I rarely see it as it is normally a late visitor but last night it was feeding on dried mealworms about 7.30 p.m. so I managed a bit of video:


I wouldn't normally expect to see one visiting regularly at this time of year but until very recently night temperatures have been in double figures so it has probably been too warm to think about hibernating.

16 comments:

  1. I thought Trichonomosis had died out. There were plenty of Green Finches and a few Goldfinches in Nottinghamshire last week.
    Very sad as they appear to have had a good breeding season.

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  2. He's enjoying those mealworms. Really tucking in to them.

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  3. Bit birdless in many places at the moment John; I'm sure they'll return very soon when we have a cold snap!

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  4. Adrian. Reading the RSPB and BTO sites I think Finch disease is as rife as ever.

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  5. He was Keith. I don't bother with the peanuts any more as they don't get eaten this year.

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  6. It does seem to be Tricia. Strange the way it suddenly went down though. A few stragglers arrived this morning.

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  7. You're so lucky you have hedgehogs! I would love to see one some day. I hope the trichonomosis outbreak does out soon. We had one a few years back, but I was lucky. We only saw one bird affected.

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  8. That Trichomonosis sounds terrible John, what a pity! Surely hope it blows over soon! I'm amazed at the black faces of your Hedgehogs, ours are white-faced, makes them a lot easier to see in the dark! lol!

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  9. Hello Kelly. The finch disease is quite a problem in the UK now. This is the third year with it here.

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  10. It is Maree and there doesn't seem to be any sort of cure for it so it keeps appearing year after year. All we can do is try to limit its spread.

    The face of the Hedgehog is dark brown but looks black as the lights above it cast a shadow. I would think it strange to see one with a white face lol.

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  11. Noticed the same here John, Lucy has no problem locating a hedgehog every night but we've seen precious few birds lately. Things are starting to pick up though, the winter Starling mob have arrived as have the Blackbirds which been missing for a while.

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  12. Paul: It was strange how they all disappeared so quickly, even allowing for reducing the number of feeders. Some are starting to return gain now.

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  13. Sadly it has been years since I saw a hedgehog down here. I suppose in London people enclose their gardens completely to keep dogs in and burglars out. That and the use of slug pellets . Very sad.

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  14. Matron: I had a period a while back when Hedgehog visits became zero. It coincided with a change of property ownership and the erection of stout fencing replacing hedges nearby. It took the Hedgehogs a month or two to find a new route.

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  15. Hi John, we were very sorry to hear about the decline in your bird visitors. Re your hedgehog, we wonder if it is a lady and if she is just staying around while she feeds her little ones to get them to a size where she can leave them fend for themselves so that she go off to hibernate. The minute she stops coming, please keep an eye out for the patter of tiny feet. We had 2 little ones appear the night after our last female hedgie stopped coming. A friend of ours has had a similar situation this past weekend...

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  16. Hello Twosie. I am fairly sure my regular Hedgehog visitor is the youngster I first saw with its mother a few months ago. No really small ones spotted as yet.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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