Shifting baseline syndrome

As part of a writing project, I have been trawling through my notebooks from the early 1980s, having just completed a similar exercise for the 1970s. It makes sobering reading. Back then, I was still able to go out locally (in northern Surrey and south-west London) and see Turtle Doves, Willow Tits, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Spotted Flycatchers with ease and certainly not need to comment on seeing them as anything other than normal. At Beddington, one July day in 1980, I recorded a flock of 400 House Sparrows, and saw 800 at Dungeness the following October. These are counts that seem incredible now. It is all too easy to think of such figures as remarkable - but, in reality these were massive decreases on what had gone before. Close to my home, on Banstead Downs, 18,000 were counted coming into roost in 1960, with over 10,000 at Dartford Marshes, in Kent, up until 1974. By 1984 the same roost could only boast a maximum of 2,000. It is easy to allow 'shifting baseline syndrome' to creep into our analysis. We remember what we experienced when we began birding, and use these memories as a yardstick on which to measure against. I frequently refer to my copy of Bucknill's 'Birds of Surrey' published in 1900. Infuriatingly, the Victorians didn't count their birds - they looked for nests, shot unfamiliar species and, if a species did appear in abnormal numbers, would only remark that there were 'many'. Oh how I'd love to know just how many birds did populate that era. It would push 'shifting baseline syndrome' onto another level.

I did go out looking today, to Canons Farm. No need for any baseline comparisons. It was dire. Pants. In lieu of a bird, here is one of several Speckled Bush-crickets that were resting on the nettles.

Comments

Stewart said…
I have had this discussion when young conservationists say that a site is doing well because it has 18 Linnets and a Yellowhammer. That's appalling, but they seem to be happy with it. To tell the truth results in a barrage of comments about being negative. Near us was asmall corner field left as set aside for pheasants mainly. It was solid with Thistles etc. Today it has all been cut off and is flat as a billiard table. I wonder what the young goldfinches will eat now?
13 August 2021 at 12:07
Steve Gale said…
At least we were able to see birds in moderately good numbers Stewart. I could cry reading some of my old notebooks.
13 August 2021 at 19:47
Ric said…
I do my best to rationalise the situation, but having only heard one local Cuckoo call in more years than I can think of, the long absent Willow Tits and more recently LSW's. I try to think of the success stories such as Red Kites, Buzzard and other species which would have involved a twitch; at least in the London area.
That said, the masses of crows and magpies that once wouldn't be seen within a mile of people, doesn't really cut it. And I'd rather have the continuous chatter of House Sparrows instead of the deafening calls of RN Parakeets.
Yes, swings and roundabouts. But really, I'd rather have the conditions that formed the original standards of my birding.
I don't like change. It's my age.
14 August 2021 at 17:56
Steve Gale said…
The swings and roundabouts swapped passerines for bully birds and opportunists Ric.
14 August 2021 at 20:53
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldfinches and Lavender

Image
We have three medium-sized Lavender bushes in our back garden. Throughout the summer the flowers (which last for several months) are a magnet for insects and give off a most restful aroma. As tempting as it is to cut the dead stems in the autumn, we always leave them, as we know that during the late winter we will get visitors to feed on the seed heads... This video was taken from the kitchen window this morning. We will normally see one or two birds over a few days, but have had up to 14 at once. We never tire of watching them. Lavender is a wonderful plant to have in the garden, with year round natural history benefits. So what are you waiting for? They are readily available at a garden centre close to you right now! There is an historic association with Lavender in this part of northern Surrey and south London. Lavender fields have been harvested for many years, with one particular field close to Woodmansterne being very popular with day trippers. A significant proportion o...
Read more

Welcome back!

Image
In November 2005 I purchased a pair of Swarovski 10x42 EL binoculars from The London Camera Exchange shop in Guildford, for the then princely sum of £899. These bins have served me well, with almost daily use in all types of weather, testing their durability to the maximum - salt water spray, deluges of rain, 38C temperatures, dust, dirt, slight knocks... and apart from the armour coating that had started to bubble and come away from the body, nothing to be alarmed about. Then, in the summer of 2022, I noticed that I had a problem when close focusing - the outer focusing wheel would lose grip and it would take me an age to regain a middle-ground distance of focus - plus, over the next few weeks this outer focusing wheel became loose. I resorted to the use of tape to keep it all in place, but realised that I had to do something about it in the long run. For a while I did consider buying a new pair - after all, they were then 17-years old - but they were still optically superb. It seemed...
Read more

A special day

In birding, timing can mean the difference between an average day in the field and that of a spectacular one. Good timing can be helped by reading the weather conditions correctly, or understanding local conditions but it is more often down to pure luck. In this case, I just got lucky... I had not visited Dungeness since March 2022, quite a gap for me. It was high time that I once more trod the shingle and my timing of a visit was down to several factors, mostly a personal liking for mid-late autumn but also because I needed to be at home until September 20th and could not make the journey south until then. I also chose to stay at the bird observatory for a few days rather than make it a day trip. All this conveniently found me stepping outside the observatory's back door in the breaking dawn of Sunday 22nd September, quickly making my way to the fishing boats, an area I prefer to stand to best appreciate any visible bird migration, an aspect of birding that I find exhilarating.  A...
Read more