Althouse: "Sightings of some of Britain’s best-loved garden birds have fallen, a report suggests, blaming the reduction on fewer hedges and overly 'tidy' gardening."

January 25, 2021

"Sightings of some of Britain’s best-loved garden birds have fallen, a report suggests, blaming the reduction on fewer hedges and overly 'tidy' gardening."

The London Times reports on a side-effect of the lockdown. People are tidying up too much.

The editor of BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine says: "More hedges are coming down... the sorts of habitats we’ve provided . . . are being ripped out... [Birds] need a slightly messy space... They need leaf litter, a bit of rotting wood at the back of a hedge. If you haven’t got a caterpillar, the blue tit has nothing to feed on."

68 comments:

Freeman Hunt said...: A few people around us took to clearing trees during the extra downtime. Despite being in the middle of town, we had a tiny patch of forest full of animals. Now our part is the only part left.; 1/25/21, 8:32 AM
daskol said...: Not only do serious birders hate tidy gardens, they don't much like children or pets. Just sayin.; 1/25/21, 8:39 AM
daskol said...: I thought I heard one say once he wanted to lynch Mike Pence, but he was probably just talking about an exotic bird with a funny name.; 1/25/21, 8:40 AM
Big Mike said...: Bitch, bitch, bitch. Some people just gotta find stuff to bitch about. Wild birds were around before our primate ancestors came down out of the trees, and they’ll be there when h. sapiens goes extinct.; 1/25/21, 8:41 AM
Rob said...: Let’s pray for an end to this pandemic so the tits can come out again.; 1/25/21, 8:43 AM
Old and slow said...: All this talk about blue tits and no one has made a Captain Kirk joke yet? Personally, I have always favored lesser tits, but great tits are nice too.; 1/25/21, 8:50 AM
Fernandinande said...: blaming the reduction on fewer hedges and overly 'tidy' gardening."

"They blamed without evidence", so to speak.

Too bad thetimes.co.uk couldn't include a link to the actual survey, eh?

Because they're actually talking about decreases over the past few years**, not over the past Year of the Cootie:

"The magazine acknowledged that sightings of house sparrows and starlings had remained flat or dipped only slightly between 2019 and last year.

** But the longer-term trend was concerning, it said, with the proportion of readers seeing sparrows down by seven percentage points and starlings down by eight percentage points since 2013."

"Overall, sightings of wildlife were up by 11 per cent, ... "; 1/25/21, 8:54 AM
Bob Boyd said...: The African Swallows are taking their coconuts by the husk and going home.; 1/25/21, 8:55 AM
LordSomber said...: I'm surprised they didn't blame climate change for lack of tits.; 1/25/21, 8:56 AM
Leland said...: I thought Cpt. Kirk was more partial to green tits. Maybe the green thumbs caused the green tits to go extinct?; 1/25/21, 8:56 AM
gilbar said...: that damn Trump! MUST he Ruin, EVERYTHING?; 1/25/21, 8:57 AM
Rick.T. said...: I generally leave dead trees up for peckerwood as long as they are not a hazard. The large pileated are amazing. ″Heh-heh-heh-HEHHHH-heh!″; 1/25/21, 8:58 AM
Michael K said...: Songbirds in Britain have been decimated and worse by domestic cats.; 1/25/21, 8:58 AM
daskol said...: Isn't "for the birds" a bad thing?; 1/25/21, 9:02 AM
WK said...: Bring me a shrubbery. One that looks nice. And not too expensive.; 1/25/21, 9:02 AM
Lurker21 said...: Just last week four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie on The Great British Baking Show.; 1/25/21, 9:08 AM
Kate said...: "Birds need a slightly messy space." I've just found my excuse for avoiding yard work.; 1/25/21, 9:28 AM
Iman said...: Great Britain: It’s teh Tits!; 1/25/21, 9:34 AM
Bob Boyd said...: People wanting to see tits was the canary in the coal mine.; 1/25/21, 9:37 AM
Fernandinande said...: Let’s pray for an end to this pandemic so the tits can come out again.

"Miley Cyrus is being called a transphobe for stating that she thinks breasts are more attractive than balls."; 1/25/21, 9:45 AM
peacelovewoodstock said...: I was going to say at least they're not blaming it on house cats but an AA reader has already jumped in to point the finger at our furry friends.

In Britain, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) states (emphasis added): "Despite the large numbers of birds killed by cats in gardens, there is no clear scientific evidence that such mortality is causing bird populations to decline. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds."

Receipts: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/animal-deterrents/cats-and-garden-birds/are-cats-causing-bird-declines/; 1/25/21, 9:51 AM
daskol said...: This is awful. Awful funny too.; 1/25/21, 10:10 AM
daskol said...: My old dog, a beagle mix rescue mutt, used to protect our baby chicks from the cats. The cat would sit on top of the incubator cage and stare at the little chicks all day long, and when the dog noticed, he would chase the cat out of the room. Otherwise the dog and cats were good friends, but he did not appreciate them leering at the chicks.; 1/25/21, 10:12 AM
Meade said...: Bob Boyd said...
"People wanting to see tits was the canary in the coal mine."

Michael K said...
"Songbirds in Britain have been decimated and worse by domestic cats."

Look, you can let your pussies out or you can have your tits, but you canary have both.; 1/25/21, 10:21 AM
gspencer said...: The more likely blame is cats, feral ones as well as the domesticated ones.; 1/25/21, 10:32 AM
madAsHell said...: I saw this report on CNN, and they managed to blame Trump!!; 1/25/21, 10:33 AM
Kai Akker said...: The British birds I miss are Julie Christie and Marianne Faithfull.; 1/25/21, 10:56 AM
Required field must not be blank said...: If you live in the UK (and especially in London), having a hedge means that you need to keep trimming it or the council will fine you eye watering amounts very quickly (London boroughs fines of all kinds as bonus income).

In the spring/summer, this means you constantly have to wield a hedge trimmer and break your back picking up shrubs. So, first chance people get, they put a fence in.

Also, there is a shortage of parking, and so people convert their front gardens, to turn the public space in front of the house into the 'non-parking' entrance to their now personal parking space.

But whilst this looks like the reason, it's not. If you really want to help the native birds, it's not that hard, it could be done quite simply: cull the surplus winged predators. Cats catch only the unviable birds, but corvids tag team and have sophisticated hunting techniques and can easily get to any nest anywhere and they know where they all are too, and, they LOVE hunting.

Looking out on any leafy London back garden space, it's usually easy to count ten or more corvids and also gulls, the place is totally overrun. It would take about 2 weeks of concerted (minor) effort every winter to keep the balance, but that would mean there's no more opportunity to handwring meaningfully and pester people for donations.; 1/25/21, 10:58 AM
William said...: Being called blue tits caused many to become dispirited and suicidal. Larks have all the fun.; 1/25/21, 11:01 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "he would chase the cat out of the room. Otherwise the dog and cats were good friends, but he did not appreciate them leering at the chicks."

Sounds just like the father of a pretty girl I grew up with.; 1/25/21, 11:15 AM
hombre said...: Oh those pesky people! Time to turn the planet over to the ... whatever.; 1/25/21, 11:15 AM
Gahrie said...: This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds.

It's almost like it's the way things are supposed to be...; 1/25/21, 11:57 AM
Gahrie said...: I have always favored lesser tits, but great tits are nice too.

I have a particular fondness for boobies.; 1/25/21, 11:59 AM
rhhardin said...: The trouble with domestic cats is that they won't starve when the prey population declines, because domestic cats are fed at home. So there's no decline in hunters to match a decline in prey, and the prey population goes to zero. Hobby hunters.

You want the Lotka Volterra equations to work for prey and hunter populations.; 1/25/21, 12:01 PM
rhhardin said...: A breeding pair of birds over a lifetime produce perhaps 50 offspring, so nature has expected that 48 don't make it.; 1/25/21, 12:05 PM
Curious George said...: "Michael K said...
Songbirds in Britain have been decimated and worse by domestic cats."

What's worse than decimated?; 1/25/21, 12:17 PM
FullMoon said...: Meade said... [hush][hide comment]

Bob Boyd said...
"People wanting to see tits was the canary in the coal mine."

Michael K said...
"Songbirds in Britain have been decimated and worse by domestic cats."

Look, you can let your pussies out or you can have your tits, but you canary have both.

That is so bad, it's good. Pretty dang funny.; 1/25/21, 12:18 PM
FullMoon said...: Last year it was climate change.; 1/25/21, 12:24 PM
Bob Boyd said...: What's worse than decimated?

Masticated.; 1/25/21, 12:25 PM
Meade said...: Thanks, 100% illuminated disc orbiting Earth. I was starting to worry maybe it was so bad, it's terrible. Or that I'm some sort of lunatic.; 1/25/21, 12:27 PM
Meade said...: And real credit to Bob Boyd and Dr. K. for the raw material to riff on.; 1/25/21, 12:29 PM
Bob Boyd said...: That's the way it's supposed to work.; 1/25/21, 12:32 PM
Curious George said...: "Masticated"

No.; 1/25/21, 12:50 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Speaking of British Birds you have forgotten Julie Driscoll. Lotsa Tunes from that sixties phenomena.; 1/25/21, 1:22 PM
David Warner said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 1/25/21, 1:24 PM
David Warner said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 1/25/21, 1:24 PM
JML said...: Yes, Bob Boyd gives us something to chew on.; 1/25/21, 1:27 PM
DavidUW said...: I've never seen a british bird with neatly trimmed hedges.

YMMV.; 1/25/21, 1:31 PM
rehajm said...: My father received a bluebird house for Christmas. This morning the weather was nice so he put the post in the ground and put it up. Just as he was finishing he was dive bombed by a pair of bluebirds headed for the house. l stopped by a few hours ago and there were half a dozen of bluebirds on the fence defending the house, apparently from each other. Who knew there was a shortage of subsidized housing...

Our community sponsors a multi-year bluebird study that erected a few dozen houses three years ago. (apparently it's a huge success). This year our house had a pair with five eggs but they found the female dead on the nest. They cleaned out the box and a second pair showed up but they left three eggs, likely unfertilized. Last year a flying squirrel got to the box. What drama...; 1/25/21, 1:39 PM
rehajm said...: I don't know who would win the crazy contest- birders or dog show people. Close call...; 1/25/21, 1:46 PM
Hey Skipper said...: Look, you can let your pussies out or you can have your tits, but you canary have both.

Genius.; 1/25/21, 1:47 PM
Tinderbox said...: Too many Brits want their gardens to look like Belgian suburbs.; 1/25/21, 1:51 PM
n.n said...: Green gauntlets? Save a bird, whack a wind turbine.; 1/25/21, 1:57 PM
Michael said...: Wild quail in the Deep South were driven to near extinction by modern farming methods that cleared to property lines.; 1/25/21, 2:48 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Curious George said...

What's worse than decimated?

Novemated.; 1/25/21, 3:03 PM
chuck said...: This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year,

Reminds me of lecture on T. Rex where it was remarked that, given the number of eggs found in dinosaur nests, there must have been a lot of young prey. Would being eaten by a T. Rex count as dying naturally?; 1/25/21, 3:04 PM
Mikey NTH said...: The report "suggests" which is suggestive in itself. To me that means the report doesn't really say what is claimed, but the author of the article had an axe to grind, and any support, no matter how tenuous, was going to be used.; 1/25/21, 3:09 PM
Mikey NTH said...: Domestic cats have been in the British Isles for a very long time, so I doubt they are responsible for a sudden decrease in the number of songbirds.; 1/25/21, 3:15 PM
SweatBee said...: "What's worse than decimated?"

Anything reduced by more than ten percent is worse than decimated. Many people say 'decimated' when they mean to say 'devastated.'; 1/25/21, 3:26 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: If Science could produce a study that shows the lockdowns are bad for dogs, they would be over in a minute. I suppose it's too late to apply for a grant.; 1/25/21, 3:39 PM
brylun said...: @rhhardin, Do Lotka Volterra equations work for COVID and humans?; 1/25/21, 3:40 PM
todd galle said...: We've taken down two trees, an oak and fir, recently for safety's sake. Both were planted / started when the house was built in the early 1950s. I haven't seen a woodpecker since, although we had a beautiful red tail hawk on our dogwood. We have a sad soul dove that sits on the wire all by themselves every day (I suppose they lost a mate). Did have a red fox run through the back yard the other week, but my daughter's dog didn't notice it. Surprisingly so really, they smell and cough (bark) enough - the fox I mean. Anyway, animals will adapt and adjust, just like we do. Just keep them all out of my tomatoes and we're good.; 1/25/21, 3:45 PM
FullMoon said...: Speaking of animals, this headline will be seared in my memory..

Disturbing moment a bull MOUNTS a stricken female bullfighting dwarf after knocking her to the ground in the middle of a fight

As the fighter goads the bull with her cape he suddenly charges at her
She falls to the ground and he instantly climbs on top of her and starts thrusting
The crowd shriek in horror as two others drag the bull away and help her up

It gets worse,(or better, depending) complete with pictures and video:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4107126/Disturbing-moment-bull-MOUNTS-female-bullfighter-knocking-ground-middle-fight.html; 1/25/21, 5:01 PM
KellyM said...: I tidy up closest to the house, but the back portion of our yard is left wild as the trees and shrubs keep the sand anchored.

Could it just be that increased human activity in one's garden is more of a factor? Since being home I've puttered a lot more in my back garden than I normally would have done when working five days a week. I'm out there almost every morning filling the birdbath, deadheading flowers, and pulling weeds in my pots. I have at least two varieties each of sparrows, finches, warblers, plus mourning doves and a occasional red tailed hawk. They do get annoyed somewhat with my presence but if I'm quiet and move slowly they're ok with me being there.; 1/25/21, 5:50 PM
alanc709 said...: Michael K said...
"Songbirds in Britain have been decimated and worse by domestic cats."

Decimated means the death of 1 in 10, so it's easy to imagine worse than 1 in 10.; 1/25/21, 6:02 PM
rcocean said...: I was reading a book about Robin's. Sadly, they don't live very long, a year or two. And its not cats that kill them, its mostly disease, cold, and hunger. If a storm comes, or there are too many Robins and not enough food. Well, lots die.

And they're cute, but not very bright. You can put out a red cushion that looks like a Robin's breast, and another male robin will viciously attack it. That red breast, means its a rival. And if your song doesn't warn him off your territory than physical violence is required.; 1/25/21, 7:01 PM
daskol said...: It's the clever birds you need to watch out for.; 1/25/21, 10:22 PM
daskol said...: Little dinosaurs and vicious like the corvids someone mentioned above. It's a bird eat bird world.; 1/25/21, 10:26 PM