It’s that time again! What time you ask. The breeding season when the Wildlife Enquiries team, which I manage, enters its busiest period of the year and we are overwhelmed with a massive influx of enquiries of an amazing variety. Chief amongst these, are those from folk who are concerned about fledglings and the problems they face.
I hadn’t worked for the RSPB for long, when an experienced colleague told me that, if all the ducklings that hatched out survived, we’d be up to our armpits in ducks. Not an especially pleasant analogy but I gradually learnt exactly what he meant. Certainly, many birds need our help but youngsters are better off without it. Coldly, the facts are, that millions of young birds perish before they are a year old but this does not affect their population and many common birds continue to increase in number despite these huge losses. They look vulnerable and desperately in need of help but, basically, they don’t need it, not from us anyway. Please try to ignore them and leave them to the experts: their parents. See here for a fuller response.
That’s nature for you. Us humans struggle to understand but we don’t always know best.
Watch out for swifts