The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I took a walk over the fields near Stallingborough Grange Hotel this morning and saw remarkably few passerines considering I was walking beside hedgerows all the time.

However the highlights were:-

Green sandpiper 1
Little egret 1
Buzzard 3
Fieldfare 3

Kind regards
Martin

Disappointing re the passerines, but not entirely surprising

On June 27 last year, a professional ecologist reported that he did not see a single bird (!) during a survey of farmland off Thimbleby Road in Horncastle.

See the Summary at the start of the report:

http://publicaccess.e-lindsey.gov.uk/online-applications/files/F8F3C60F20ED36D4FA7A4A2CFD78AF92/pdf/S_086_01888_15-AMENDED_ECOLOGICAL_SCOPING_SURVEY-4012102.pdf


Not a single bird? Surely at least one magpie, swallow or carrion crow must have flown past.

Is the situation on Lincolnshire farmland really that serious ? If so why? And what should be done about it?

I have been unable to download the link but a more cynical view may be that the ecologist was acting on behalf of a client seeking planning permission to build and the presence of certain wildlife would be undesirable!!

"saw remarkably few passerines considering I was walking beside hedgerows all the time" Thought i was viewing wrong site for a moment Martin. As that was a pretty accurate description of a walk or pretty much any hedgerow in North Nottinghamshire, my home county.......
NB: Mainly due to Council & Farmers cutting hedges in late summer. AGAIN!!! #BerryFreeHedges

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Regards.
Del.

To err is human. To really louse things up takes a computer

Sprayed and sanitised arable farmland really is that bad and I think most people who do not walk it will really not know just how bad things now are. Simple answer there is no food for birds in winter and so no birds. Odd corvids and the artificial chicken like Pheasants hang around feeders but open brown fields and winter wheat is dead and farmers and managers seemingly just don't care.

"farmers and managers seemingly just don't care." Sadly so very true and getting word year on year, or we wouldn't be having this conversation annually.
PS: You missed Councils off your don't care list.

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Regards.
Del.

To err is human. To really louse things up takes a computer

It is unfortunate that the link appears to have become unavailable because it is a real eye-opener.

It can also be accessed by logging on to East Lindsey District Council's planning page, searching for Thimbleby Road, Horncastle, then viewing the ecology report on the Documents page.

The report carries photographs so any LBC member would be able to form an assessment on what birds might be seen or heard on a warm day at the end of June.

In my view, the text of the report does not reflect favourably on the awareness of the individual who carried out the survey.

In the time, it took him to identify no fewer than 30 plants, how is it possible that he could not have recorded a single bird species?

And what about butterflies and other insects? Not a word about them in his report.

Planning officers and councillors are not birders. They will have taken the report in good faith, believing it to reflect the state of the wildlife population at that particular rural location

For the record, the application by Allison Homes for 36 new homes on the field was duly approved by ELDC's planning committee.

I share the dismay of others who have posted messages on this topic, relating to the paucity of birds on cereal fields. Countywide, The impact of chemical spraying must have been devastating.

For the first time ever, I agree with Stuart , and share his potential cynicism re the objectivity of the author of the report

Ecologists engaged by developers are not impartial. They are paid by the developer, not by the planning authority. Why would they bite the hand that feeds them?Invariably, the conclusion is always the same : "Give the development application the go-ahead."

The planning system is supposed to support and encourage biodiversity wherever possible. Invariably, it does exactly the opposite.

The tragedy is that professional ecologists are often ornithologists. Too often, some are only too ready to compromise their principles - and the welfare of birds and other wildlife - if their own particular shilling is at stake.