Breathless I listen
Singer and song a rare gift
Darkness follows dawn
The song thrush has one of the most beautiful songs… and is just one of the many once-common garden birds now under threat in this country. It is on the Red list for conservation, having lost up to 70% of its numbers within the last fifty years, due largely, it is thought, to slug pellets and changes in habitat.
The 67 birds with ‘red’ status on the endangered list include the mistle thrush, redwing and cuckoo… and there are another with 89 birds on the amber list. It is not long since the last golden eagle in England disappeared. Within my lifetime we have seen fields full of wildflowers cease to exist, bees come under threat and many other small creatures as a consequence of the changes in our own lifestyles.
Conservation efforts can and do make a difference… birds such as ‘our’ red kite have been brought back from the edge of extinction. Every one of us can make a difference by supporting wildlife projects or making our gardens wildlife-friendly. It would be a tragedy to lose such beauty.
Beautiful!
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Thanks, Connie.
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I was just talking with a friend today about zoos, and how even though I have very ambivalent feelings about them, they may be the only hope for the survival of some species. It’s a sad reflection of our caretaking indeed.
But…we do what we can. The bird population has definitely rebounded in the city in the last 20 years due to conservation efforts. (K)
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I have similar feelings on zoos. They are becoming far better for the animals than they used to be… no concrete cages and lots of green space. But it is still captivity. But… the conservation work now done by many is allowing species to survive. There is a gene pool for when…if… we manage to find a balance, restore their envoronment and re-introduce them. And unless children see such animals, face to face, would they care what happens to them?
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It’s definitely heartbreaking that children will never see so many creatures in their own worlds. And to know and feel that it’s their world, not ours.
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It is… their world will be a poorer place unless we can redress the damage.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Hear, hear! Thank you, Sue.
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The destruction of nature habitat is a terrible thing, Sue.
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It is… anywhere. On a little island like ours, it doesn’t take a great deal to upset the balance.
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Beautiful and such a lovely read, Sue. Loved the little birdie.
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He’s gorgeous… and a regular visitor to the garden.
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Yes must be.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you, Michael.
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