Dear all
I agree with Annabel - and suspect that the frequent use of chemicals
has a lot to do with the decline in some birds. I don't spray in my back
garden but my next door neighbour used to (now his marriage has split up
and he hardly gardens at all) and another 2 yards away also sprays - all
around the edges to "control" excess grass and weeds. You just have to
look at the array of chemicals in supermarkets and garden nurseries -
they wouldn't stock them if they didn't sell.
But despite my neighbours' best efforts, so far I have lots of flying
(and non-flying) insects, including termites (so far not right in my
garden), and the birds have a feeding frenzy when there is a hatch-out.
A large mulberry in my garden harbours lots of midgies etc which attract
many small birds, and the native shrubs planted in the last 3 years are
carefully checked over by a variety of honeyeaters, thornbills,
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and other insectivores. If caterpillars get
too thick, I pick them off into a bucket and pour boiling water on them
and then throw into the compost.
There is no doubt at our place that there are less insects around in
the summer, especially those little ones that used to always come
through screens to the lights on a summer's night.
Maybe this is because of the prolonged dry times, but agricultural and
domestic use of chemicals must have a fair bit to do with it. A lot
of people put most of the blame on feral cats and farmers, but I
wonder how many of you are contributing by your own use of
chemicals? For example
- Do you often spray your vege garden or your roses?
- Does your local authority fog swamps to kill mosquitoes?
- Do you have your house sprayed for spiders etc.?
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