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.
essex peasant - good try! Thank you! Barn owls are indeed a success story - their numbers tend to go up and down a bit but they are a good example of where farmers have made a big difference. I saw a barn owl as I drove to work one day last week and it made my day.
And you make a good point about barn owl being on the FBI. It is, after all, on the list in the Atlas. I think the reason that it isn't included in the FBI is that until we set up the Breeding Bird Survey there were no annual population figures for barn owl - it wasn't covered by the Common Birds Census nor by any other annual monitoring scheme. And since barn owl numbers have gone up, their inclusion would alter the FBI trend a bit.
I know that the RSPB's farm hasn't been called Grange Farm for all that long - I believe it was once called Dairy Farm or something similar.
mirlo - I would be interested in essex peasant's answer to your first question, too. As to your second question, to be fair, essex peasant does have his moments. But your first question goes to the heart of the matter.
To Essex peasant
I would like to ask if you acknowledge that the state of wildlife ( plants, birds, invertebrates) in the farmed countryside is a great deal worse than that of 20 or 30 years ago?
Also can you explain why that if you have an interest in wildlife in the countryside you are not working in harmony with the RSPB to encourage other farmers to manage some land with wildlife in mind instead of becoming involved in pointless, puerile arguments with RSPB staff
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
essex peasant - I envy you your waxwings - on that we can happily agree! However, on this very blog you referred to Hope Farm as Hype Farm - I took that as a less than complimentary reference but maybe I was too sensitive? And yes you did donate a barn owl box - for which we are truly grateful - and for which you have been thanked by me in person.
Nightjar and Gert - welcome to the discussion!
StackyardGreen and trimbush - point noted, thank you!
Yes, but lets remember what this is all about - the loss of wildlife in our pursuit of ever increasing food production has been spectacular - but hidden - not least by the shifting baseline syndrome where any improvement is seen as great- we have it in forestry, everyone gets excited when timber prices go up, ignoring the fact that each trough is deeper, each peak lower than the last time.
Also, there's another shifting baseline in agriculture where the discussion always shifts from the big picture to the individual farmer - on whom whatever comment is passed is unfair. And actually, it frequently is - birds and farmers are caught in a downward spiral over which neither have much control, whatever the NFU likes to make out. We really do need a rethink before all the farmers go bust and all the birds disappear.