Why have the house sparrows from my garden gone?

[Marc1314]

Hi, does anyone here know about garden birds?
I'm pretty keen about wildlife especially birds and over the past year or two I've started putting out bird seed and fat balls to encourage birds to visit my back garden.
It's mostly Starlings and House Sparrows with the occasional Magpie, Blue tits, pigeons and a robin or two.
I like the House sparrows in particular and there is at least 3 nests in my neighbours and my roofs which meant after their young ones could fly I had at least 10-15 different sparrows would visit my feeder all day long from the crack of dawn until bedtime.
So this is going on every day until last week I realised that the feeders were still full and when I watch the feeders over the next couple of days I didn't see a single sparrow (but still get starlings pigions etc.) and I havnt seen any going to and fro from their nests.
They are also absent from the roof ridges where they usually like to chirp really loudly.

So i'm hoping maybe someone would know if they will come back or not and maybe what has caused them to disappear?
Their nests havn't been touched and I havnt seen any dead birds
anywhere on the ground. The only thing in the garden that has changed recently is the amount of kids.
The summer holidays started here a couple of weeks ago and my kids and the neighbours and half the street have been playing in the paddling pool in our garden.
I wouldn't of thought they would be bothered about the kids but they can be pretty loud, would this affect the sparrows(and only sparrows)?
Cheers,
Marc

EDIT: this garden is in the UK btw

[TheGrayMouser]

Both those bird species are very aggressive and enjoy genocide. Also, look around the area for a particularly fat cat.

The Birdman of Lankhmar.

[Major_Mess]

This is admittedly a long shot.

Time travelling Red Guards sent to the UK could be responsible.

[Lobster]

Did you provide water other than where the savages are rousting about? Maybe they found greener, and quieter, pastures.

Oh, any reports of alien abductions in the area?

Any Hyperspace Bypasses planned? Check with the Vogons.

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

Oh, any reports of alien abductions in the area?

No aliens have been abducted recently.

[Curtis Lemay]

They were obviously watching the World Cup on your TV through your window. Once England lost, they lost interest and cleared out.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Fred98

ORIGINAL: Lobster

Oh, any reports of alien abductions in the area?

No aliens have been abducted recently.

If so, then where did the aliens go? Did the same abductors grab the birds, too?

[charlie0311]

Boys with BB guns and no birds.

[pkpowers]

[:D] must have been too cold ! (blue TITS) [:)]

[durangokid]

The Matrix forums have demonstrated, once again, that this is the place to come when you need a reliable answer to a burning question.

No fake news here.

[Marc1314]

I knew it would be along shot posting this here but i knew i could rely on you all to be super nice about it[:)]

@lobster i think you could be right about the water cos i didn't put any out for them and it been absolutely boiling here for a month or two with no rain so maybe they will come back in autumn

@everyone else aliens wouldn't abduct them cos they would be driven crazy by the noise they make at 5am but if they only wanted to eat them(they are tasty!) that wouldn't matter so much

[z1812]

I also put out feed for the Birds in our garden. In addition a bird bath really seems to attract them. They use it mostly for drinking although the Robins seem to like to bath more than the other birds.

I was sitting in the garden one day when I heard a commotion and saw a hawk swooping away with 2 smaller birds giving chase. After that the birds took a few days to return in numbers.

Perhaps you have Hawks in your area and the birds are staying away for a while. Or it could be the water as someone else has said.

You didn't change your bird feed by any chance?

[JosephM]

Yep Water might be a big part. Small animals have more issues with starving or dehydrating quicker than large ones, and this heat is unusual especially for such a prolonged period, so perhaps making a small bird bath and keeping it topped up would help. Other more permanent water sources might not be suitable for them. Pigeons are also direct competitors, so might have driven them off or outcompeted them. Then as z1812 says predators might also have an influence: my parents live in the SE of the UK and recently at least 3 Red Kites have taken to their area, and as a result the formerly ubiquitous crows tend to hide these days when the Kites are around

[PipFromSlitherine]

Magpies will kill pretty much anything they can. The evil little ****s.

Cheers

Pip

[Erik Rutins]

Well....

[6aptkurtz]

in slam Rutins, means STINKS*