I did my hour for the Big Garden Bird Watch this morning. Having filled up the feeders with juicy tempting food I sat and waited for my little birds to arrive. What did arrive was a gang of 15 starlings at any one time and they raided the feeders with the mealworms and very quickly emptied them. They are very flighty and would all suddenly fly off and in these small gaps I had very quick visits of my two little robins, two blackbirds, two great tits, two blue tits, two dunnocks and two pigeons. As soon as the small birds went onto the feeders back came the gang of starlings frightening everything off.
It is so disappointing not to see birds who used to visit my garden but I haven't seen for a couple of years - chaffinches, greenfinches and long tailed tits. No sparrows and no thrushes. Very sad and I hope it is not because they are declining.
