I made the second visit to my BBS square on Sunday. The BBS is jointly funded by the RSPB, BTO and government agencies - will it suffer from the impending public spending cuts?
'Top bird' was a tawny owl - but also seen or heard were yellow wagtail, reed bunting, bullfinch, lesser whitethroat, stock dove, yellowhammer and a reasonable number of other species.
This is the sixth year I have done this particular plot of arable farmland. Over the years I have seen 45 species altogether but the annual totals vary between 24 and 31. This year's 29 species is pretty standard then.
I was pleased to see the tawny owl - quite a treat! In the very first year of doing this square I saw the owl in a green lane on both visits but Sunday was the first time since then!
A reed bunting sang in the oilseed rape and a yellow wagtail called from the spring beans. I was up at 5am and home at 8am - feeling virtuous for having contributed my time (and expertise and diesel!). I won't cut my investment in the natural environment - I hope government takes the same view.
Very admirable. I do however share your concern about potential cuts. In particular at the moment it looks like 'targets' are themselves a target for cost cutting purposes. That could take us back to the infamous baseline issue. Without an understanding of what is there and should be there means projects such as these start to become meaningless unless NGOs find additional funding for their own projects.