Birds Britannia: Countryside Birds
Post categories: Birds Britannia
|14:48 UK time, Monday, 22 November 2010
As a child I grew up in that strange 'no-man's land' between city and country, the suburbs of west London. My playground was the scrubby bits of wood, gravel-pits and fields - all largely man-made habitats, yet full of birds.
Ironically, the gardens around where I grew up are still full of birds - including the newly colonised ring-necked parakeets that shriek across the sky every morning and evening. But the countryside around - whether in the suburbs or out in the rural areas - has far fewer birds than it used to. Because of modern farming methods, designed to ruthlessly maximise the production of food at the expense of any other consideration, including wildlife.
As a result, the populations of our farmland birds - iconic species such as the skylark, lapwing and yellowhammer - have been in freefall for some time now. Migrants such as the cuckoo are also in trouble, perhaps because of factors beyond our shores, such as climate change in Africa where they spend the winter.
But it's not all bad news - during the same time as our birds have declined, we as a people have learned to love them like no other nation. This final programme in this series celebrates that love and affection through some surprising stories, including the influence of birds on people during the two world wars, the way that two gamebirds have shaped our landscape, and the appearance of the nightingale and skylark in poetry.
Birds Britannia: Countryside Birds is on BBC Four Wednesday 24 November, 9pm (and various dates/times during following week). Watch previous episodes on iPlayer.
Stephen Moss is the Series Producer.
Comment number 1.
At 10:10 28th Nov 2010, bowmanthebard wrote:From the recent Birds Britannia:
"With a collective weight of more than three million tons, the pheasant is pound-for-pound the commonest bird in the British countryside. Yet ironically, it is not a British bird at all."
I suggest there are three things wrong with this claim. First, "collective weight" is a bizarre unit for measuring commonness of individuals. Second, surely it is simply untrue? Pound-for-pound, I would guess there must be more jackdaw, wood pigeon, herring gull, chaffinch, etc. than pheasant in the British countryside. Third, although pheasants were originally introduced to Britain (over a thousand years ago), that does not make them "not British", any more than people of non-white races are "not British". Practically all species were "new arrivals" at some point.
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Comment number 2.
At 17:54 28th Nov 2010, jubjub_bird wrote:I have enjoyed this series very much and appreciate the need not to clutter it with overmuch historical detail. However, I was surprised that I heard no mention of Max Nicholson (I hope I did't just miss it!). Max was someone you refer to elsewhere as a towering figure of ornithology, yet perhaps you feel he was over-shadowed by Tom Harrisson? I would be interested to know how you selected who to bring out as being among the most influential ornitholgists.
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Comment number 3.
At 19:18 9th Jan 2011, Kristian wrote:Could anyone help, what is the bird in the opening sequence of birds brittania, and little bird, with reddish legs.
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