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Missing in your garden

coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,428
in Wildlife gardening
Just received notification of the bird count (it is a European wide event, possibly even the world) for the end of January. 
It reminded me that for years now I haven't been able to report any crest tits. This is a photo from 2012. They are so tame, I put the feeder on the windowsill so that I could enjoy them closer. Then they cut almost all the conifers around here, and that was it.

Is there an animal in your garden that you no longer see?

Luxembourg
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  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Yes red squirrels. I miss them very much indeed and will do anything in my power to protect them. A local person is in the process of getting the red squirrel protection group up and running again and I've offered my help which has been accepted.
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    edited December 2022
    We used to have collard doves visit our city garden all year round but haven't seen any for the last few years now. They used to be really common birds but we don't see many anywhere now.

    I don't know if it's because they have declined or if they have been pushed out by the massive influx of pest type pigeons, seagulls and more recently jackdaws and crows (which we never saw before). 
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    They are all down here @thevictorian   :D
  • RBMancRBManc Posts: 59
    A few years ago we had bullfinch (a pair) and chaffinch (also a pair, sometimes a female on her own) regularly but haven't seen them now for about two years. 

    We also used to have absolutely loads of Greenfinch but now we are lucky to have more than two or three. 

    We always had loads of buzzards around too as we have a lot of fields surrounding us and there were adults and lots of youngsters in 2021 but they were noticeable quiet this year :(

    The usual suspects still visit often but not as frequently as they did. 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Thrushes - There used to be lots in the garden and little piles of broken snail shells, always good to see! then they disappeared.
    I see one or two now and then, but quite rare now.
    When I first moved here some 36 years ago I rarely saw wood pigeons - now they're by far the most common bird in the garden.

    I built a fish pond soon after moving here and frogs moved in almost immediately.
    In February there were mounds of spawn and a lot of noise at night from mating.
    On a rainy day in early summer I'd watch hundreds of little froglets hoping across the lawn.
    I've not see a frog in the garden in 10 years or more now :(

    On the plus side I do see quite a few birds of prey - buzzards and hawks are common now.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295
    We get a great range of birds, but we did have starlings when we first moved to this area, and we never see them now.

    We do get the odd red squirrel here @Uff, but not as many as in the past. We also have greys.

    Bee x
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • joanna65joanna65 Posts: 75
    It is rare to see a starling these days, we used to see hoards of them and they used to nest in the roof space but no longer. Also collared doves and hedgehogs. On the plus side we get quite a few slow worms. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Our first year here I heard nightingales but not since.   Chaffinches are becoming fewer despite our feedin all year round and greenfiches are rare.  We get goldfinches eating weed seeds in the gravel out front but never at the back.  Wrens and robins are very shy here but we do see them about.

    On the other hand, this year we had our first spotted woodpeckers at the feeders and we get regular green woodies visiting.   Blue and great tits are regulars and the sparrow population, along with the collared doves, is exploding.  Starlings come every summer and strip our fig tree and we have a few now visiting the feeders.  Blackbirds stickk to the hedgerows but that may change once our new apple trees start fruiting.  Never seen a thrush here, other than visiting fieldfares.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Aw the little darling. Thank you @coccinella
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
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