Blame farmers for decline of our wildlife
IN response to K Wilkinson on the debate on our countryside, in my last letter I asked people to take time out and travel midway from Habrough Church toward Cross Keys roundabout, Killingholme, and witness for themselves how our countryside wildlife is being destroyed by the farmer.
K Wilkinson tells us in his letter that he/she did just that, and did not see a problem.
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The number of hares in this country is now less than 800,000, a decline of 80 per cent, says Concerned Townie.
He/she says in five minutes he saw pigeons and two sky larks etc and not to worry about the hare because there are one-million still left in the country.
This is the complacent attitude that prompted me to write to Viewpoint in the first place. Can I please just give you a few facts.
Firstly the number of hares in this country is now less than 800,000, a decline of 80 per cent.
Just take that figure in: 80 per cent.
The skylark that KW says he/she saw two of in five minutes, you can see how lucky they were when I tell you the skylark numbers have declined 60 per cent in the last 30 years and even our friend the little sparrow has declined 62 per cent in the last 25 years.
Both are on the red list for conservation concern.
Many of the above problems are caused by the farmer.
In the last 50 years, more than 150,000 miles of hedgerow has been destroyed by the farmer and developers depriving the hare of food and shelter.
Can I also inform you that organised shoots in East Anglia during February and March account for 40 per cent of the entire national brown hare population.
The hares' breeding season is well underway by February and these shoots leave orphaned leverets to die of starvation.
KW also tells us the farmer kindly leaves 30 metres of land around their fields for the sake of our wildlife, and tells us it is "out there you just cannot see it".
So can I please repeat my plea to the farmer to stop the overuse of pesticides and please replace the hedgerows, or our grandchildren will be telling their grandchildren stories about the countryside when there used to be animals and birds running and flying freely.
As I have said before Mr Farmer, you are only temporary custodians of our countryside, your predecessors worked alongside nature, so can you.
Concerned Townie (full name and address supplied).
The Telegraph says
Have you witnessed a general decline in wildlife, and, if so, should we accept it as the price of progress?
4 Comments
by Farmer, Grimsby area
Wednesday, June 10 2009, 3:29PM
“I full understand the town folk not seeing wildlife but it is there. On my farm I have planted 2 hectares of woodland (100m x 100m = 1 Ha) and have got ditches and ponds around. I cut the grass at the correct time of year and only use weedkiller around the buildings not in the fields.
BUT I am only a small farmer (the size of the farm not the size of me!) and I can do this. Larger farms have changed.
On a large farm 20 - 30 years ago you could expect to find 4 or 5 full time workers now you just the 1. Everything has become mechanised and wildlife does not respond as well to this machinery as it did when things we done but hand.
2 metre strips of land can be found around many fields which stops spray and fertiliser going into the field edges. But this is just waste land and is rotovated to keep the weeds down.
Not all farmers are making money. The price of wheat is being set by the city dealers and a low price can bankrupt a farm.
We also have to look at the amount of land we have in this country. More is going to housing and wildlife habitats such as the EA flooding of Donna Hook. We have more people to feed with immigration and the increasing age of the population.
One day I fear we shall run so low on food that wildlife really gets a bad deal. During the war there was the dig for victory where all land had to be cultivated for food production. The wildlife has taken a back seat from then on.
If farmers did not use insecticides on the crops how many people would complain if there was an insect swarm? Historically there was not this problem but insects are much hardier today as they have to fight off the effects of pesticides.
I will continue to do my part in the preservation of wildlife but when all around me are large farms I can only do so much.”
by Steve, Grimsby
Wednesday, June 10 2009, 6:27AM
“Although industrialisation is also to blame for the loss of our wildlife there is no doubt that farmers are mainly responsible. For instance, a staggering 99% of our wet meadows have been lost since the war, flower meadows are now almost unknown (except the buttercup meadows that cows feed in, that look very pretty but consist of one species of flower), and most road verges and riverbanks are covered in Rape that has escaped from the fields. The less variety of plant life we have the less insects, the less birds and so forth, all the way up the food chain.
We still have plenty of rabbits, crows and pigeons, all of which can survive almost anywhere. Crows are an indicator species of a ruined ecosystem, as they only thrive where more specialised species can't.
There has been a recent improvement due to countryside stewardship schemes, which the farmer's only take part in because they get paid for them. If they didn't, the remaining woods, hedges, ponds would disappear in an instant.
I understand farmers have a job to do, and there are a minority who love and cherish wildlfie. However, for the majority to describe themselves as 'Custodians of the Countryside' is a huge joke - they are custodians of their own bank accounts and nothing more.”
by Steve, Grimsby
Wednesday, June 10 2009, 6:17AM
“yes”
by Stovaa Drakon, The Cross Keys roundabout, (South) Killingholme
Tuesday, June 09 2009, 11:20AM
“Okay, let me start this nicely: I live in the country, in South Killingholme, not far from that roundabout you mentioned. There are, in close proximity to where I live, a family of foxes, a group of squirrels, numerous species of birds (especially sparrows). I regret to say I have not seen any hares or rabbits, but there are sparrowhawks etc etc. If I had to say why there was not a lot of wildlife, I would not blame farmers. You may have missed it, but that roundabout? There is a big road either side of it, that goes through the village and the countryside. That's a lot more damaging to wildlife than a few less hedgerows.
See a bit further down the road, all those huge chimneys? That's not a farm, that's a pair of oil refineries. Once more, damaging to the wildlife.
The expansion of the urban environment and the industrialisation of the countryside are far more damaging to all the little furry and feathered friends you so badly want to show your grandchildren than the farmers are. Leave the farmers alone, they have enough of a problem competing in the current world market as it is without a townie with a head full of statistics and superior attitude telling them to plant hedgerows.
The A180 that goes from Grimsby out past the Brocklesby Interchange (near Killingholme again) is often covered with the remains of badgers and foxes.
How dare these farmers plant tarmac in a long line there, it's disgusting.
Please, consider your arguments more carefully before you write another letter to the telegraph. Wildlife is everywhere, hiding from the modern world that looks to build or tarmac it over.”