The strange disappearance of birds

[violetblue]

Can anyone explain this phenomenon? When I was little, my mum used to give me stale bread to throw out for the birds, and within a minute they descended in huge groups to come and eat it. Now, if I do the same thing, it can stay on the ground all day, even thought I have plenty of birds in the garden. This is irrespective of season.
1)Does it bear out the drastic fall in sparrow numbers? The birds that used to come were overwhelmingly sparrows, though not all.
2) Do you have many sparrows where you are?

[whiffey]

I think there are fewer sparrows, yes, but I've kept a lookout and they are still around in the garden. Nothing like the chattering flocks of even a few years ago though.

What I see more of are blackbirds, robins, and most unfortunately magpies which I swear outnumber pigeons now.

I'm seeing a few wrens, thrushes, and woodpeckers too.

[RATTER15]

We have a few sparrows around, but these days we don't have anything like the amount of songbirds that we used to have, i think its mostly down to insecticides. Most of us use slug pellets to protect our tomatoes etc from slugs and snail, the birds then eat these and die from poisoning. I think the biggest culprit is the farmers using insecticides and herbicides, destroying vegetation and nesting sites and poisoning all the insects that damage their crops and in turn killing off our wildlife. I suppose we must all be partially to blame, the farmers are only responding to our need for cheaper, cleaner, and pretty looking fruit and veg.

I live in the countryside and work with and for a large agricultural community and see it going on all the time, its frightening!!

[Robinia]

where I live nr Derby I've always had a fair number of sparrows & judging by the amount of dog fur they were taking in the spring they've been very busy in some snuggly nests again this year (the fur was clippings by the way - they weren't plucking it from my little dog!)
most people in this area feed them & given a choice they'll choose the seed over the bread.....that's usually gobbled up by starlings.
also have lots of greenfinches, blue, great & coal tits, robins, blackbirds, chaffinches.....