Waxwings - I actually went out looking for them in east Northants yesterday and failed completely despite many recent local records. Did see lots of rowan berries, industrial estates and redwings though! Will I ever see a waxwing this winter?
Farmland birds - a short blog of a week ago has attracted a large number of comments - mostly from a so-called 'Essex peasant' otherwise known as Essex farmer and NFU mouthpiece Guy Smith. The comments are mostly longer than the original blog! Guy has problems with Hope Farm, the Farmland Bird Index, and most things that the RSPB does. Makes for an interesting read if you are interested in that type of thing.
Dancing - now is the time to download Bird is the word to try to get it to be the Christmas Number 1.
Last date to order from the RSPB before Christmas - 15 December.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
In a first pitch as to who is the most positive, lets talk Barn owls. In 2008 I asked the Barn Owl conservation trust about farmer conservation work and they told me that they reckoned 10,000 farmers were helping conserve the Barn Owl putting up a remarkable 35,000 nest box sites (we've got ten) and their estimation was this had helped achieve a 50% increase in nesting Barn Owls in england since 1990. Unfortunately, the Barn Owl is not a species on the farmland bird index, I think it should be, there is, after all, a clue in the name ( hopefully Bob might agree).
The good thing about Barn Owl boxes is if you don't get Barn Owls you get Stock Doves which have increased dramatically in the last thirty years or so - see
www.bto.org/.../wcrstodo.shtml.
Gert - I do know my Whitethroats from my Great Tits ( and I know Gt .Tits are another species that have done well in recent years - see www.bto.org/.../wcrgreti.shtml but are not on the farmland bird list) and yes I have a vested interest in needing to make a profit from my farm ( ask my bank manager as to why if you don't believe me) but I do source my information scientifically. I agree it does seem a bit picky to criticise the RSPB for changing a farm name for their own publicity purposes but I'm a bit of an old romantic at heart who thinks farm names are what they are because of some reason our forefather understood and I don't like losing our countryside's history.
Anyway, thats three scientifcially sourced bit of good news. Does that put me three nil up.
Mark -Sorry you took offence at 'Hype farm' but be fair I havent even mentioned your dancing yet.
Peasant
Paysan savant