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Another bird count ...

DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
in Wildlife gardening
Wondering if the countryside dwellers amongst us are aware of this?

https://www.bfbc.org.uk/

🦉

Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Run by the Game and Wildlife 'conservation' trust and sponsered by the NFU. Not that I don't trust either to just twist the data for their own benefit but I'll pass on this one. :|
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    A case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t I suppose  :/

    My brother is a farmer ... he has done a huge amount to restore miles of hedgerows and plant woodlands, creating beetle banks and nesting areas for skylarks and establishing large areas of  habitat for hares and birds needing grassland and regenerated large areas of woodland and wetland habitat.  He’s not the only one ... most of his neighbours do it too ... they love wildlife and understand it’s importance  better than many folk. 

    Yes, he shoots and eats some pheasants too ... I feel a lot better about eating one of his pheasants than one of the cheap chickens available in supermarkets and some butchers.  He’s also a member of the NFU ... you make them sound like the devil incarnate ... who else should be organising  a bird count across as much farmland as possible?

    Beware of alienating those
    folk who can actually do something to improve habitat for wildlife ... don't chuck the baby out with the bath water 😢 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I've got no problem with people shooting and eating wild game. A couple of pheasants for the pot is fine by me but the other 49,999,998 captive bred game birds that are released into the British countryside to consume and out-compete native species for resources are more of a worry. The arguement that 'wild' game is better than farmed chicken is often over simplified. Any land owner can release enormous amounts of birds onto their land with no care of where they disperse to. Then there's the concerns over lead shot and wildlife crimes as well.
    In my opinion the NFU and GaWCT should be paying someone like the BTO to provide accurate data rather than using free citizen science to push their adjendas. The NFU are more interested in agribusiness than farming as far as I can see and always seem to be on the wrong side of any debate to protect the countryside.
    Monitoring wildlife is essential and any farmer that is working to restore the countryside is fine by me but I don't like the idea that this sort of thing is aimed at nature lovers who think they're helping wildlife only to find that their data is used for what can be seen as anti-wildlife campaigns.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited February 2020


    As I said, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t 😢 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You’d probably think of these as ‘Agribusiness’ rather than farming ...

    but click on the individual farms and read about them
    http://www.suffolkproduce.co.uk/meet-the-farms.html


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497

    Just some helpful reading on how the GWCT treat the data that is provided.


    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Dave HumbyDave Humby Posts: 1,145
    I saw a Grey Wagtail while out walking the dog in the woods today. I’m fairly certain that’s the first one I’ve (knowingly) seen in my 51 years. 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    A few years ago in the Autumn I was on top of a mountain in North Wales when a huge flock of fieldfares flew over and landed all around us. They were perched on every rock and mound they could find. I think they must have been freshly arrived on migration and looking for berries.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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