Agreed Rob. We spent a couple of months in the UK in January/February.
Staying with relatives in Guildford, Surrey, spotted 30 species, ranging
from raptors, to woodpeckers and pigeons to tits - quite remarkable for a
suburban back garden I thought.
By the bye, in terms of the recent discussions about Starlings, there was a
piece in the International Express (June 30), suggesting that Starlings
have been recommended for the Red List of endangered species. Research
apparently shows that this most common of British birds has been hit by a
decline in the UK of more than 50 per cent over the past 25 years.
Anybody interested in the article let me know and I'll send you the full
text.
Allen Newton
Guildford, Western Australia
rob leask wrote:
> just a note in reply to eric hoskin's mail re birds in the u.k and "how
> lucky we are here",
> after living in N.Z. and coming to australia the birdwatching is
> wonderful!!! however, i lived in the u.k when younger and i think eric
> is a bit off the mark. for the size of the place the british isles have
> an enormous number of birds. woodpeckers for example, and several
> species of tit {i remember a common occurrence of great and blue tits
> poking holes in milk bottles and drinking the cream. any trip to a
> fishing port will turn up at least 6 to 8 species of gull, an estuary is
> invariably chock full with waders and shorebirds.
> the change between winter and summer birds is always keenly
> anticipated...the winter flocks of bramblings, fieldfares, redstarts,
> snow buntings, etc etc. being on a north-south passageway and it's
> proximity to europe means that a surprising number of "odd" birds turn
> up and even the westerlies bring in occasional rarities from the states.
> aussie is a great place for birds, but the u.k. has good points also!!
> rob
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