Decline in bird & insect numbers??

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  • For the first time ever, there are no swallows in our garage this year.

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  • proggyproggy Frets: 5827
    For the first time ever, there are no swallows in our garage this year.


    Just the Suzuki Swift....
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  • TheMarlinTheMarlin Frets: 7745
    My garden is resplendent with bird and infect life.  I’m a catch and release kinda guy, is if bees or butterflies get into my house, a carefully catch and release them back outside. 

    Except for wasps, f#@k wasps, I get the Dyson out, and enjoy the dull thud as they bounce off the inside of the extender hose. 
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    Sassafras said:
    Fuckin cats kill all the birds round here.
    People get too worked up about cats.
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    Nope. Shit tons of insects and birds near me. Maybe they decided to move to the city?
    The large number of insects might suggest a reduction in the bird numbers.  Birds feed on insects thus keeping their numbers in check.  Unless there is another source of bird food...
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
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  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
    Cirrus said:
    Sassafras said:
    Fuckin cats kill all the birds round here.
    People get too worked up about cats.
    How do you work out my hating the murderous filthy, stinking bastards with every fibre of my body and wishing they'd all rot in hell is getting too worked up, I can take them or leave them.
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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    We get a few birds in the front garden because we mulch heavily and they scatter the mulch to find insects or worms. In the tiny back garden we have been feeding everyday this year until about 3 weeks ago when we cut down to encourage natural feed cycles and strengthen the instinct in the fledglings. We have a few wood pigeons, three ring neck doves, a couple of black birds and this year 14 startlings produced 7 fledglings becoming our biggest contribution to the local populus. Other birds visit but not so much. We also have a family of gray squirrells in the large trees/hedge at the foot of the garden beside the footpath where a couple of hazelnut trees flourish. On our allotment we don't direct feed, but again heavy mulch provides year round food and we leave the likes of sunflowers and other seeded flowers and over ripe fruits for the birds. We net to keep birds (mainly wood pigeons) off the greens until we've had our fill. The insect house I built a couple of years ago never seems busy, but it's hard to tell. The plot is also home to a family of field mice that live in the compost and help themselves to food and a mole that does mole things because our worm population is well  developed.
    The front garden is a good flower filled space and gets bees and other insects, but not in the way one would have expected years ago. Few people in our immediate area garden much and the general lack of environment suitable for wildlife is noted.
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  • lasermonkeylasermonkey Frets: 1940
    My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
    Not only that, many raptors are illegally shot or trapped because of the possibility they might predate upon birds, native and non native, that a certain few want to shoot.
    It's utterly fucked up.
    My wife asked me to stop singing Wonderwall.
    I said maybe.....
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    We have great birdlife ...........numerous Partridge ,Pheasant but daily visits from Kestrel , Kite ,Buzzards, Sparrowhak , Yaffel ,There is also a huge bird of prey we see from time to time about twice a year for the last 10 years .I think it's an Eagle of some kind ....it has Traces on it's legs so I guess it's an escapee .I saw the Kestrel take a Partridge back in May this year.
    Tawny Owl and various treecreepers and Finches .Get some Jays too which aren't so common now.
    Insects ?.....every year we are plagued by Hornets ,starting around June onwards......have never been able to find the nest but we get hundreds around the windows and any light source at night.
    I bought a Butcher shop type UV lamp grid and fitted outside back door.........you can hear a snap every 3 or 4 minutes as another one of the bastards fries every night if not raining.........I got stung 3 times in under a minute last year and couldn't move my arm for a day......hate them.
    Really strange and sad but last week we had 2 male woodpeckers fly into a window within 10 minutes of each other..both died on the spot.
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
    Not only that, many raptors are illegally shot or trapped because of the possibility they might predate upon birds, native and non native, that a certain few want to shoot.
    It's utterly fucked up.
    The killing of raptors was widespread up to about a decade ago. Now there is an acceptance that raptors have their place in the scale of things so they are spared. Game shooting is not affecting wildlife numbers as the birds are bred in incubators and the food they eat when eventually released has no effect on the native wild birds. The stopping of commercial game shooting will do nothing for wild bird numbers and will only end up with more people out of a job. 
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    Rocker said:
    I have noticed a serious decline in the numbers of birds and insects this year (compared to last year and years previous).

    Birds:
    Fewer swallows and housemartins.  A noticeable reduction in the numbers of wood pigeons, crows and starlings.  Numbers of traditional garden birds appear to be holding up, ie normal.  Numbers of green finches appears to be on the increase after the virus that decimated the numbers of the species a few years ago.

    Insects:
    Greatly reduced numbers and varieties of butterflies.  Numbers of wild bees are greatly down compared to last year

    Anyone in the UK notice a similar pattern? 
    It's the opposite where I live. We have a bee friendly garden - it's full of every type of bee. We have loads of wood pigeons, crows and starlings as well as lots of green parakeets (they escaped from a zoo and have bred - I counted 25 of them on one tree in my garden). I've also seen hedgehogs this year (we have a hog house which helps).

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15476
    Rocker said:
    My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
    Not only that, many raptors are illegally shot or trapped because of the possibility they might predate upon birds, native and non native, that a certain few want to shoot.
    It's utterly fucked up.
    The killing of raptors was widespread up to about a decade ago. Now there is an acceptance that raptors have their place in the scale of things so they are spared. Game shooting is not affecting wildlife numbers as the birds are bred in incubators and the food they eat when eventually released has no effect on the native wild birds. The stopping of commercial game shooting will do nothing for wild bird numbers and will only end up with more people out of a job. 
    citation required 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • LastMantraLastMantra Frets: 3822
    My town is becoming a seagull breeding site. Constantly bombarding everyone and making a mess + racket. Not as bad as the big old rookery (loads of bats too!) I used to live next to right enough.

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  • lasermonkeylasermonkey Frets: 1940
    VimFuego said:
    Rocker said:
    My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
    Not only that, many raptors are illegally shot or trapped because of the possibility they might predate upon birds, native and non native, that a certain few want to shoot.
    It's utterly fucked up.
    The killing of raptors was widespread up to about a decade ago. Now there is an acceptance that raptors have their place in the scale of things so they are spared. Game shooting is not affecting wildlife numbers as the birds are bred in incubators and the food they eat when eventually released has no effect on the native wild birds. The stopping of commercial game shooting will do nothing for wild bird numbers and will only end up with more people out of a job. 
    citation required 
    Indeed. The shooting industry loves to bang on about that, but the conservation charities keep on producing data to contradict it.
    My wife asked me to stop singing Wonderwall.
    I said maybe.....
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  • VimFuego said:
    Rocker said:
    My real shock was the realisation that we have to transport bees from field to field to pollinate, because wild populations both can't keep up with our intensive farming and because wild populations are in a state of global decline (and quite fast - I recall a colleague saying approximately 40 percent decline in bees in the last 10 or 15 years world wide)

    Bees are not the only pollinator going of course. I've actually noticed an increase in both birds and insects near Cambridge - I think improved farming practice has helped. 

    However, I think it's a bit nuts we import pheasants solely to shoot them - many escape, meaning we are artificially introducing a non native, competitive species that actively eats the same food as many of our song birds. Some strange traditions we have
    Not only that, many raptors are illegally shot or trapped because of the possibility they might predate upon birds, native and non native, that a certain few want to shoot.
    It's utterly fucked up.
    The killing of raptors was widespread up to about a decade ago. Now there is an acceptance that raptors have their place in the scale of things so they are spared. Game shooting is not affecting wildlife numbers as the birds are bred in incubators and the food they eat when eventually released has no effect on the native wild birds. The stopping of commercial game shooting will do nothing for wild bird numbers and will only end up with more people out of a job. 
    citation required 

    Indeed, citation needed - apparently over 40 million non-native pheasants were imported into the UK. Meanwhile, I know of a farmer that catches and kills magpies in the help songbirds, while releasing pheasants onto the land for sport.

    If anyone can point me to the logic and sense, as well as proof that pheasants do not eat insects or grain I might consider the opposing view more seriously. I understand they are omnivorous but that doesn't mean they don't share some of the same food, or interact with the environment in other ways. 
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    Some family friends in Cumbria have some land which they've cultivated for hunting pheasants. They rear the pheasants themselves. The land itself has won them nature grants, they've reintroduced loads of at risk species into the area. It was just a couple of fields before. They are really in touch with nature, and love wildlife despite blasting the shit out of it occasionally.  Conservation is a big part of it for them
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    I met with a farmer today who was very (very) clear that Chris Packham has killed all the song birds by getting the shooting of rooks and crows banned, so there's loads of them and they have eaten all the eggs of the other birds and that's why there's none left.

    He does not like Chris Packham, I'm not sure about Terry Nutkins.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15476
    munckee said:
    I met with a farmer today who was very (very) clear that Chris Packham has killed all the song birds by getting the shooting of rooks and crows banned, so there's loads of them and they have eaten all the eggs of the other birds and that's why there's none left.

    He does not like Chris Packham, I'm not sure about Terry Nutkins.
    s'nuthing, I met a farmer who was convinced that the decline in bee numbers wasn't down to the pesticides he was spraying, but because badgers eat them. 
    What we can safely draw from this is that farmers are just as capable as anyone else of spouting unscientific bullshit. Driving a tractor for a living only really makes you an authority on driving tractors.

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    edited August 2019
    My town is becoming a seagull breeding site. Constantly bombarding everyone and making a mess + racket. Not as bad as the big old rookery (loads of bats too!) I used to live next to right enough.

    I'm in suburban north London. A few years back a load of seagulls took up residence, I don't know why they came here but they returned every year until this year. The decrease in screeching and poo (from the non-winged residents, at least) is most welcome.
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