My local football team, the mighty Rushden and Diamonds is currently 8th in the Blue Square Premier League - that's 8th out of 24 teams.
Seeing your performance in the context of others is always informative and sometimes really useful.
So did you know that the UK is 4th place in the EU (out of 27) for the highest rate of income tax? and 12th, out of 15, EU countries in the proportion of our energy coming from renewable sources? and top of the EU cocaine using league? and top of the EU asthma suffering league? and we were 8th in the EU days lost to strikes league table back in 2006. This gets a bit addictive!
In terms of farmland bird population changes, the UK is 11th worst out of 40 European countries over the period 1990-2000. And we were even closer to the bottom, as I remember it, in a previous analysis which covered the period 1980-1990.
Farmland birds declined in most European countries (but increased in just a few) and I wonder what we can learn, maybe nothing, in terms of how the league leaders, Austria, practise their farming? In Austria, farmland birds did pretty well apparently. And Austria is top of the league, it seems, and if you ignore Liechtenstein (which we all do!), in terms of organic agriculture. It can't be that simple can it?
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Agree with every thing you say Bob which is why i asked if a couple of acres in say each parish would be a great help and think with sympathetic persuasion farmers might agree to this.
One big problem that i feel Mark is aware of is that farmers see any comment by the RSPB as criticism and perhaps regard the RSPB as the enemy which is not true but while Mark is even handed as he quite often praises what individual farmers do some at the RSPB at the same time make silly critical comments that are only relevant to some farmers.
For certain for farmland birds to increase or at least halt the decline the ONLY way is for RSPB and FARMERS to work together so lets hope both groups try a bit harder and do not see each other as the enemy.
I think if there are no farmers on the RSPB main committee then there should be,surely just as important to have someone like that as to have a figure head like Kate Humble,if no farmer on committee then seeing the state of farmland birds and the fact that farmers manage almost all the land in the country it must be a serious mismanagement from RSPB i think.