birding-aus

Song Thrush: Friday Bird in Focus

To: "Tim Dolby" <>, "birding aus" <>, <>
Subject: Song Thrush: Friday Bird in Focus
From: "Rosemary Royle" <>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 21:58:15 +0100
There is a widely held belief that the cause of the decline in Song Thrushes in 
the UK is due to them eating snails poisoned with slug pellets. However as far 
as I am aware there is no evidence at all for this - and it assumes that most 
Song Thrushes live in gardens which they don't. (I am still unclear myself 
whether a diet of poisoned snails will actually poison an individual Song 
Thrush though I am sure that the overall effects on populations are likely to 
be minimal) The intensification of agriculture together with dry spring 
weather, especially in the SE is thought to be a more likely cause. They have 
actually reversed their decline at the moment and are doing OK in the wetter 
parts of the country.

I was interested in the remark about size of territories - which explains why 
Song Thrushes are always much less common than Blackbirds.

Rosemary Royle
Wales, UK
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