Big farmland bird count

That'll be just me then :doh:
we're coming out of els and going into a new scheme this will help the farm get points and points make prizes ! Hoping it'll help the shoot and help the farm create more areas for conservation .
norma
 
till they pull there heads out of there dark bit and add predation from birds of prey on the increase over the years i wont take part in anything they do,there ok talking about the things farmers do and have done to lessen wild bird numbers but never talk about how much large and small farm shoots benifit them with all the feed they put out and the controll of egg stealing corvids and such, so im afraid i wont be part of something like that, maybe if the controll of birds of prey was lifted ( and i mean controll not desimation) the population of song birds would increase, its not all down to farmers ways of farming
 
till they pull there heads out of there dark bit and add predation from birds of prey on the increase over the years i wont take part in anything they do,there ok talking about the things farmers do and have done to lessen wild bird numbers but never talk about how much large and small farm shoots benifit them with all the feed they put out and the controll of egg stealing corvids and such, so im afraid i wont be part of something like that, maybe if the controll of birds of prey was lifted ( and i mean controll not desimation) the population of song birds would increase, its not all down to farmers ways of farming
+1
 
I would have loved to but away at work.


As for raptor predation, well yes it can be a problem, Sparrowhawks keep knocking off the wild grey partridge in late winter.


But there is only one real factor in declining farmland birds and that is modern farming practices, in my locality it is all arable and almost no over wintered stubbles, a lot farmers even when growing a spring crop want their land under the plough all winter, especially as so many use contractors they might as well get the land worked whilst prepping for the autumn crops.


Shooting can be a great help for wild birds, but it is not all rosey, for example game crops are fantastic for the tweety birds if they are the right type, and last long enough, which is most game crops except maize, and unfortunately most big shoots prefer pure maize covers to anything else. The only thing maize is good for is game and vermin. Then there is the habit of topping game crops on feb 2nd, just in time for the hungriest months of the year. Referring back the grey partridge getting killed off by the sprawks, there is just no cover for them to hide away in on so many arable farms once winter kicks in and / or when the game strips get chopped.


Then there is the massive amounts of rats that game crops (esp. Maize) harbour but so many shoots seem to care little about. Those same rats which go on to infest the hedgerows will be hunting out and chomping down on any ground nesting birds eggs and chicks just as much as any carrion crow, stoat or weasel...
 
Am sure ur right in ur neck of the woods mudman, and u are spot on about shoots topping cover crops early. I've heard some of the neighbouring shoot captains to me go round emptying their feed hoppers to save the wheat for next year. I've still to put a final fill in some of the hoppers, but only the ones near some decent nesting cover, not in some of the colder driving woods
But round my area farming has changed very little in the past 30-40 yrs, no hedges ripped out, not much pets/insecticides etc, to be fair silage is the biggest change which is not beneficail and getting cut earlier than ever (start may, 3 and 4 cuts on some dairies) 30yrs ago was still mainly hay.
The big difference is the ammount of vermin, i had never seen a magpie till i was 19 and went to college, quite a common sight down here now, badgers are evrey bloody where too.
There is 1 valley where i work which is the exact same as most other sheep farming valleys yet it is alive with breeding waders that actually fledge young every year, most upland sheep farms u hardly see a wader now never mind young. The only difference is near to some grouse moors and a very good lowland keeper.

I agree entirely with skywull, at the moment i'm trying to set up a private nature resrve but will not have anything to do with those clowns, they are so far out of touch with wots happening and are far more corncerned about making money and keeping there jobs going than saving birds. Shower of ****s.
They are so hypocritical its unbelievable. Would not give them a penny
 
I think these organisations need to look at what has changed over the years and they will notice bird of prey has a big impact!
 
they seem to be a big shout on about the demise of starlings and how rare they are now, when i was a kid growing up in the shadow of the ravenscraig steel works there were tens of thousands of them, the sky would go black with them near roost time and they'd line the roof tops all heading for the heat of the steel works and factories in the lanarkshire area, the noise they made could be deafening and trying to dodge the sh"te if you worked in some of the factories was a nightmare:doh:but what i dont hear the university educaded bird experts mention is that on the closeur of the steel works and dismanteling of them and all the other dependant factories the starlings had nowhere to go to roost and all but disappeard, and what you have to remember is that these works coverd square miles and i cant even quess how many all i know is that it stretched from wishaw to motherwell to newarthill carfin holytown and miles more, but what did they blame, aye youv got it farming methods changing!! ffs, so the change in industry all over the uk im sure played a huge part in starling numbers plumeting, these guys need to open there blinkerd eyes before they get my support, not only did these works support countless families but were a huge nature reserve in there own rite, i.e, fox sparrowhawk perigrines, deer, rabbits, hares, im sure anyone that worked there could add much more to what they supported, so for me the deindustrialisation of west central scotland and the rest of great britian done many a bird and mamal out of a safe sancuary to roost and live
 
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