Loss of bird numbers

Drag1

Well-Known Member
I know its nothing to do with stalking but iv'e just been watching the news about the amount of bird life that's disappearing in our country
there was some bloke on the news saying its farming ripping out their habitat and the old chestnut global warming not one person mentioned the fact that the most prolific breeding bird in recent years is the Buzzard and all its other mates including maggies and alike
I was only talking to a local farmer the other day about the badger cull and TB aside there are no ground nesting birds about any more
shorly this lot have got to have something to do with it or are these T**TS turning a blind eye to all this

Rant over Drag
 
i watched it also they mentioned the sparrow ,did they forget to record the amount taken by sparrowhawks off the feeding tables the whole thing is blinkered into blaming others instead of actually admitting what is going on in the countryside, atb wayne
 
Its a sad state of affairs, We activly shoot crows, magpies jays etc throughout the year on our shoot, and year on year the numbers are spiraling.
I think they do a lot more damage than raptors on the bird population. (not defending raptors we are overrun with them as well)
sinbad
 
domestic cats.............psychopathic relentless bird killers!

Yep, wish they came under AOLQ. Got three around me that do nothing but kill and their owners just say "well it's in their nature" well it's in mine to kill them ( the cats..not the owners ) if I was allowed
 
I used to have housemartins nesting in the eaves - until the sparrowhawk took care of them.
A blackbird has tried nesting in our Leylandii for the past three summers and had its' nests ripped apart by the local cat and magpies.
The maggies even learned to cling to the harling and rip the housemartins nest apart for the nestlings
I've got a larsen trap on order to take care of the maggies but not much I can do about the other two.

Ed
 
I used to have housemartins nesting in the eaves - until the sparrowhawk took care of them.
A blackbird has tried nesting in our Leylandii for the past three summers and had its' nests ripped apart by the local cat and magpies.
The maggies even learned to cling to the harling and rip the housemartins nest apart for the nestlings
I've got a larsen trap on order to take care of the maggies but not much I can do about the other two.

Ed

Well I have got so p*ssed off with the magpies in my garden last spring decimating every nest that I have now made the 15th Larsen, so that next spring I can loan them out to anyone (on cash deposit) who has a large garden within 1 mile radius as an experiment, what do you think, will it make a difference?

ATB Willow
 
I used to have housemartins nesting in the eaves - until the sparrowhawk took care of them.
A blackbird has tried nesting in our Leylandii for the past three summers and had its' nests ripped apart by the local cat and magpies.
The maggies even learned to cling to the harling and rip the housemartins nest apart for the nestlings
I've got a larsen trap on order to take care of the maggies but not much I can do about the other two.

Ed

Well I have got so p*ssed off with the magpies in my garden last spring decimating every nest that I have now made the 15th Larsen, so that next spring I can loan them out to anyone (on cash deposit) who has a large garden within 1 mile radius as an experiment, what do you think, will it make a difference?

ATB Willow

Yes, But its going to be a very long battle.
 
Magpies and crows are on the increase birds of prey are becoming more popular and as for farming so what about all the field margins and comers that are now left and planted with specific bird seed mixes to encourage nesting birds we ave been putting corners down to this and noticed and increase same as always everyone is to quick to blame the farmer this country is a joke!
 
Magpies and crows are on the increase birds of prey are becoming more popular and as for farming so what about all the field margins and comers that are now left and planted with specific bird seed mixes to encourage nesting birds we ave been putting corners down to this and noticed and increase same as always everyone is to quick to blame the farmer this country is a joke!

i agree farmers are doing so much now in regards to conservation its unfair to blame them it is a joke when countryfile show how farmers are doing so much yet rspb blame them soley for the decline , atb wayne
 
I am certainly not going to spout any rspb rhetoric here.

reasons for decline are wide and varied and it is far too simplistic to blame one thing in fact it's alarmist!

habitat loss, predation, habitat fragmentation, pesticides, urban development, climate change and a host of other factors are causing declines. Also we have to remember that many of our species are sub Saharan migrants therefore at the mercy of factors out with our control.

certainly many of our garden birds fall foul to cats, magpies, sparrow hawks. They always will, it's the part they play within the ecosystem. Generally predation will not be the primary cause for decline but if matched with another factor such as lack of invertebrates, then it will cause problems. Trouble is that people will notice predators like cats and magpies but not the lack of invertebrates. Very rarely are these factors working in isolation.

The increase in decking and patios will no doubt have an effect, where will a blackbird get a worm on a patio?

I agree, that farmers are always getting it in the neck. Without fail every farmer I meet, wants to do the right thing. They also have to follow legislation and make a profit, it's not easy.

One project that I work on, is working on farmland waders with over 50 farms signed up. Some farms are better for wildlife than others, we've got all farms into srdp contracts but there is no guarantee that we will halt declines. It may be that the deciding factors are on wintering grounds to the south. I'm keen to investigate the abundance of inverts in the upper soil , I think that soil compaction in areas may be a problem, this isn't just a problem for the lapwing but also for the farmer as it will undoubtably have an effect on grass quality. It's never simple!
 
i agree farmers are doing so much now in regards to conservation its unfair to blame them it is a joke when countryfile show how farmers are doing so much yet rspb blame them soley for the decline , atb wayne

i'd be interested in seeing any press where rspb are directly blaming farmers? They shouldn't be (although I can imagine one individual who would)

if any thing is to blame it's farming practises, which is a totally different thing. Farming practise is rarely down to individual farmers, they are being directed by government, market trends and worst of all super markets!

The general public need to get behind our farmers and accept wonky carrots, a rise in milk prices and say no to cheap foreign meat, out of season veg and cheap dairy products. The British public don't realise how lucky they are, having our farming industry but they really run the risk of loosing it with there religious following of super markets.
 
i'd be interested in seeing any press where rspb are directly blaming farmers? They shouldn't be (although I can imagine one individual who would)

if any thing is to blame it's farming practises, which is a totally different thing. Farming practise is rarely down to individual farmers, they are being directed by government, market trends and worst of all super markets!

The general public need to get behind our farmers and accept wonky carrots, a rise in milk prices and say no to cheap foreign meat, out of season veg and cheap dairy products. The British public don't realise how lucky they are, having our farming industry but they really run the risk of loosing it with there religious following of super markets.
I agree after working farms and the land as a boy to starting out in full time employment in horticulture the waste is discusting ,everyday the supermarkets would ring up and specify what size cucumber or tomato this was for all green house grown produce on large scale anything that didnt meet those sizes where binned anything that was bent where cut and sold as seconds most again where binned it was all about screwing down price as they can dictate what they want from day to day knowing full well the targets moved so hitting the right weight was very hard to do so they got cheaper produce and sold on at big profits, atb wayne
 
Over the past 12 months travelling along the A75 to and from my stalking groung I have noticed a serious decline in the rabbit population, they used to litter the fields and roadside verges. They are now few and far between. I have also noticed a massive increase in the buzzard population along the same stretch of road. Coincidence ? I think not
Wingy
 
Over the past 12 months travelling along the A75 to and from my stalking groung I have noticed a serious decline in the rabbit population, they used to litter the fields and roadside verges. They are now few and far between. I have also noticed a massive increase in the buzzard population along the same stretch of road. Coincidence ? I think not
Wingy

Buzzards, do not keep rabbit numbers in check, however large populations of rabbits will boost Buzzard numbers. Especially if you have myxi , buzzards will boom in the area and rabbits will crash, giving you the end result of a few rabbits and a high number of buzzards, giving the impression of a wipe out. Buzzzards are pretty lazy compared to other BOP , like Goshawk and sparrow hawk. Buzzard like dead or dying stuff and will of course kill but compared to others aren't that good. They certainly aren't up to killing small hedge row birds, more suited to young gamebirds! which are often found in huge numbers, can we really blame the buzzard for having a go at the "giant takeaway" we have created?
Buzzards and R kites unlike Goshawks, peregrines, sparrow hawks are opportunistic more like corvids, foxes etc. They will make the most of a situation and generally do better than more specialised species such as our smaller woodland edge/hedgerow birds and farmland waders.
Surveys are showing a decrease in the more specialist birds such as lapwing, swift and an increase in the more generalists like buzzards and corvids, who will survive in just about any habitat and eat pretty much anything.
 
As Bambislayer has said it's due to a several factors. The one that really annoys me is people who feed their garden birds but have their feed points in the most exposed locations. This of course suits them to be able to see and admire the birds but also makes any birds vulnerable to predation. Tables and feeders should be in or very close to dense cover.
 
Heard the same thing on bbc breakfast seems RSPB take simplistic approach of farmer knocking no consideration given to
predation cats arrrrrh(there were few hawks etc mainly due to DDT 50 years ago)
corvoids millions of em
habitat look at house roofs now they are almost insect proof never mind bird proof
when i were a lad you could walk down village streets with air rifle and shoot any jackdaws/crows etc etc.
Wood pidgions seem to be the modern sparrow round here they taste good but if you attempt to shoot them in the village Swat is likley to be called.
 
When I purchased my pesent house one of the first jobs I had to do was inulate the loft but before I could do it I Had to remove 10 bin bags of sparrows nests and make good the cement falashing to keep them out.
The next next job was to fix 4 double sparrow boxes to the north side of the house and within an hour the sparrows were going in and out investigating.
Problem solved
 
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