Never seen this before!

richardandros
richardandros Club Member Posts: 2,681 ✭✭✭
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edited October 4 in Wildlife, Nature & the Great Outdoors #1

Here's one that I'm sure mickysf will want to comment on. We are fortunate in that behind our house are open fields - for as far as the eye can see - which was one of the main reasons we bought the house in the first place. At the other side of our fence is a large (approx 50 acre) field.  It gives us great pleasure to watch the annual cycle of food production - from ploughing, through drilling to the eventual arrival of the combine.

This year, however, probably due to the dreadful weather in the spring and the fact that the heavy clay soil results in it getting very waterlogged, the farmer, I think, decided to cut his losses and leave the field to its own devices. Either that, or he was giving it a bit of a rest. Not surprisingly, it was a mass of weeds in no time at all - and quite frankly, a bit of an eyesore. Move on to a couple of months ago and a contractor turned up and sprayed the whole field with weedkiller and whilst it took a few weeks to work, it certainly did in the end. The field was then a mass of very dead, brown foliage.

Yesterday and today, the farmer starts to plough the field and to my utter amazement, we have not seen one single seagull - or any other bird for that matter - following the plough.  Bearing in mind we are less than a mile from the sea (as the seagull flies!) I find this absolutely mind-blowing. Even more so because we normally see hundreds of them during the day, regardless of whether ploughing is taking place or not.

I can only assume that whatever weedkiller was used, it not only killed the weeds but all the worms and other living creatures in the soil that would have provided a tasty meal for the birds.  Bit worrying - to say the least.

 

 

Comments

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,585 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #2

    Flora and Fauna are always the best barometer to use to gauge how healthy, or not, the infrastructure of nature is.

    In this case Richard it seems it's very sick in that field.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #3

    I was only thinking the other day that the numerous seagulls we used to see here have disappeared. Being on the coast we used to be plagued by them - our cars were constant targets. We had one drop dead from the sky into our garden a few years back and they were known to take our electricity supply out by frying themselves in the overhead transformer.

    Now, though, the sighting of a gull is a rare occurrence. Bird flu, maybe?

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,585 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #4

    Believe it or not but your most known "Seagull", the Herring Gull, is on the endangered list. Its' absence is usually noted most by those living by the sea as they're the ones who will notice the fall in numbers most.

    Common Gull doesn't live up to its name either and Skua, known as pirates of the sea, are also on the decline.

    Could be bird flu or environmental reasons. Most probably both.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #5

    This was taken 8 years ago but you’d not see them lined up in any numbers now.

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,585 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #6

    What did you bribe them with to get them to pose for you TW?laughing Nice photo.

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Forum Participant Posts: 3,579
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    edited October 4 #7

    I would say there are less birds in general around us, but we are forty miles from the sea and still have our fair share of sea gulls. A lack of insects seems to be the problem for the birds that eat them. 

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 4 #8

    I think they had their own dedicated posts😂. Somebody described it as being like The Boys From Brazil 😱.

    How did this one know we were eating chips in the car? The windows were closed.

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 5 #9

    Well for what it’s worth, better late than never, here’s my two penn’oth.

    In the old days crop rotation, natural fertilisers and soil enhancing applications along with hard work kept a healthy soil and an eco friendly habitat conducive to food production.

    Here are two interesting articles but poisoning the soil kills.

    Here

    and Here

     

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