Um... the wildlife is GONE!

[GD91]

Has anybody else noticed this the past few years despite putting up bird feeders, nest boxes etc?

I used to see lots of blue tits, great tits, nuthatch, finches etc in my town and now there are only blackbirds, magpies, crows, doves and woodpigeons and even these are getting scarce.
There are barely any hedgehogs, but loads of foxes.

I recently found an underweight hedgehog so we are fattening him up for release next year. But its brought to my attention that there is a lot less wildlife in my area. A hell of a lot!
I'm finding it really rather concerning and thinking about all the concrete and gravel gardens that lots of my locals have for convenience. Concrete and gravel provide no food, water or shelter for wildlife. Theres also a lot of fences and walls which would be difficult to navigate by anything other than the birds, foxes and cats.

Maybe the houses need to be built further apart to produce "Wild areas" in between them.

The hedgehog I found was local and malnourished and the only one I've seen in all my nights the past two years walking the dogs. I've been feeding him for a while, here is a photo:



I don't think our governments environmental plans are working fast enough. There has been such a dramatic decline in wildlife in my area the past few years, everything from bees to birds and I'm suddenly finding it very troubling. I never noticed before.

How is your wildlife doing? Have you noticed anything?

 

[btguy]

it has gone both ways here, indigo buntings, cardinal, bluebird, quail, rabbits, squirrel, and snakes are all gone, field mice, raccoons, opossum, finch, red tail hawk, feral cats and fox have taken over.

 

[GD91]

it has gone both ways here, indigo buntings, cardinal, bluebird, quail, rabbits, squirrel, and snakes are all gone, field mice, raccoons, opossum, finch, red tail hawk, feral cats and fox have taken over.

Here the red foxes are thriving, next to common fieldmice, the brown rat, blackbirds, magpies, crows and woodpigeons and the pip bat.
Squirrels and hedgehogs are not thriving, nor are the small common bird species such as sparrows.

I went for a walk with a friend yesterday and when we stopped and listened we could only hear 3 bird calls in a nature reserve which use to contain hundreds of birds in our town. I also saw no water voles which used to be common there. There was, however, an abundance of moles.
The nature reserve is no longer maintained by the rangers because of cuts and bird boxes etc are no longer being put up and have not been for years. Plus there is a lot of human traffic through there and teenagers making dens etc.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I met a fellow the other day who has become anti-wind turbines. According to him, there is a wind farm built near the Horicon Marsh, which is a protected wetland/marsh area that is a bird watchers paradise. Very important for the migrating waterfowl coming through the area. From the web: The Horicon Marsh is the largest cattail marsh, consisting of 32,000 acres, in the United States.

He said the number of birds has dropped dramatically since the wind turbines went up in the surrounding area. I believe that the wind turbines have a great impact on birds.

 

[Sfraker]

I lived just south of Horicon for decades. The number of birds at Horicon had been dropping for years prior to the wind turbines. Agricultural/residential runoff into the water causing the water to be full of sediment that cattails love. The more cattails the less open water for the birds. There is a highway that cuts through the corner of it and you will see roadkill birds fairly frequently on it. An increase in predators and scavengers that eat eggs such as raccoons, skunk, fox, etc.. Not to mention all the non-native carp that have been released and ended up in the water making it filthy along with all the invasive plant species that have taken over.

I'm not saying the wind turbines don't add to the issue, however they are not the main cause. They simply added to the problem because birds tend to fly into them and get killed.