forward by Jim Williams, Wayzata Begin forwarded message:
From: Joan Knoebel <[email protected]> Date: February 25, 2005 11:46:20 AM CST To: "Wisconsin Birding Network" <[email protected]> Subject: [wisb] BAD NEWS ABOUT BRITISH BIRDS > > From the Independent (London) > > Mystery of the silent woodlands: scientists are baffled as bird > numbers plummet > > > > > By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor > > > > > 25 February 2005 > > It has hardly been noticed, but it is another sinister warning sign of > a world going badly wrong. Populations of some of Britain's most > attractive woodland birds are plummeting at a rate that threatens them > with extinction, and nobody knows why. > > Precipitous declines in the numbers of some species, of up to > four-fifths, have been registered over the past 30 years, but > scientists are just realising what is happening, and they have no > simple explanation. > > In its scale and its range, the phenomenon is one of the most ominous > events in the natural history of Britain over the past half-century. > Perversely, the decline comes at a time when Britain is planting more > woodlands than ever, and forest management has never been more > sympathetic to wildlife conservation. > > About a dozen species of small birds that have flitted through our > woodlands for thousands of years are suddenly in serious trouble. This > may be associated with climate change, linked to the damage that > excess deer numbers are doing to the undergrowth in woodlands, or in > some cases, linked to trouble for birds on migration routes to and > from Africa. > > The endangered species are less familiar than common garden visitors > such as robins and blackbirds, which is perhaps why their > disappearance has taken longer to register. But now a study, appearing > next month, makes the picture clear for the first time. > > It shows that five of the species - the spotted flycatcher, the lesser > spotted woodpecker, the lesser whitethroat, the lesser redpoll and the > tree pipit - plunged by more than three-quarters between 1966 and > 1999, and continues to decline. > > The population of the spotted flycatcher fell by no less than 85 per > cent, and that of the lesser spotted woodpecker by 81 per cent. > Another five species - the willow tit, the marsh tit, the woodcock, > the dunnock or hedge sparrow and the willow warbler - fell by between > half and three-quarters, and two more species, the songthrush and the > bullfinch, fell by nearly a half. > > Yet another group, for which there are no reliable numerical figures, > is nevertheless known to have fallen significantly in either numbers > or in range, or in both. These include the long-eared owl, the > hawfinch and the nightingale. > > In southern England, where the situation is worst, some of these > species have virtually disappeared. "These birds are falling off the > radar in a quite catastrophic way and we have no real idea why," said > Graham Appleton of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Britain's > leading bird research organisation. Three of its researchers, Rob > Fuller, David Noble and Des Vanhinsbergh, produced the study with Ken > Smith, a researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of > Birds. > > The most puzzling and perhaps most worrying aspect of the woodland > bird decline, apart from its remarkable scale, is that there is no > obvious single cause, as there has been with the dramatic and > well-known decline over the past 30 years of British birds on > farmland. > > Species of the fields such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the > corn bunting and the turtle dove have also dropped enormously in > numbers, but the reason is well-known, the range of new agricultural > practices that came in with the intensive farming revolution. > > Turning these declines around by more wildlife-friendly farming > methods is now official government policy, and may well eventually > succeed. > > But the difficulty with addressing the woodland bird decline is that > there is no obvious simple reason for it, and thus no obvious simple > solution. > > In their study, which will be published in the March edition of the > journal British Birds, the researchers offer seven possible causes > which may be behind the declines. They are: > > * Pressures on migrant birds during migration, or on their wintering > grounds in Africa; > > * Climate change in Britain itself, especially changes in the timing > of the emergence of insects used as food, and the drying-out of > woodlands; > > * Reduction in the actual numbers of insects and other invertebrates; > > * Impacts of land use on woodland edges and on habitats outside > woodland; > > * Reduced management of lowland woodland; > > * Intensified habitat modification by deer, which eat the woodland > bushes, shrubs and grasses, and stop regeneration of trees, reducing > nesting areas and insect populations; > > * New pressure on nests and young birds from predators, such as grey > squirrels, members of the crow family, and great spotted woodpeckers. > > But at present, these possibilities are speculative, and the true > causes of an enormous change in Britain's natural environment remain a > mystery. > > > > > ############################## This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list <[email protected]>. 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