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The lack of birds in Mary Julian Hackney’s garden (Letters, 18 October) may be a metropolitan problem. Here in Newcastle, the day after her letter was published, we enjoyed our usual Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Starling, Pigeon and Ring-necked Parakeet. The previous weekend we had a woodpecker, a woodpecker, a jackdaw, a crow and a couple of long-tailed tits; and earlier that week, we had a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a few visits from the neighbor’s house sparrow.
Reg and Val Hall
Newcastle upon Tyne
Perhaps the birds that disappeared from Mary Julian’s garden migrated five miles northwest to Crouch End. Our garden feeders regularly attract goldfinches, warblers, robins, jays, great tits, pigeons, blackbirds – and parrots.
Judith and Malcolm Abbs
Crouch End, London
“Where have all the birds gone?” Mary Julian asks. Well, quite clearly they are in my little garden. The young that were brought here in the spring stayed throughout the summer, mainly because I offer a variety of food, and more importantly, three bird baths, which are replenished several times a day. Their antics in the water are pure gold to watch.
Marguerite Christmas
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Here in the southern suburbs of Birmingham, we have seen no decline in sparrows, blackbirds, titmice and robins, despite having two active cats.
Ted Heath
Oulton, West Midlands
My table visitors seem reduced to an efficient number of magpies and jackdaws. Blackbirds practically do not exist, dwarfs are less, sparrows are reduced. The hawks took a lot of birds this year – dove, dove, blue tit – right in front of me. Avian flu caused massive mortality in seabirds on the nearby Lothian coast, particularly guillemots, but famine was also a factor.
Adrian Laird Craig
Edinburgh
We also lost our little garden birds. We blame the magpies – there are plenty of them.
Ted Prangnell
Ashford, Kent
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