29th September 2023
When did you last here a cuckoo? When did you last watch swifts somersault in the air? In the skies above Sheen this summer, I didn’t see any swifts.
The Natural History Museum reported this year ‘Bird populations in the UK continue to freefall as the government moves further away from achieving its own targets to protect nature. Between 2015 and 2020 almost half of all bird species declined, with woodland bird species being the most affected… Campaigners say the government is in danger of missing out on their own targets set out in the Environment Act, which was passed into law in 2021 and requires a halt in species decline by 2030.’ (1)
Cuckoos and swifts are not included in this as they are migratory birds, coming here to breed in the summer, but they face the same problems as our resident birds: habitat loss especially in rural areas with more intensive farming practices, use of pesticides and herbicides, and climate change.
We can be part of the solution by ensuring that our gardens are wildlife friendly places and by supporting organisations such as the RSPB and WWT in creating wildlife reserves.
(1) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/april/almost-half-of-all-uk-bird-species-in-decline.html
The Green Tau 