‘Why Birds?’  Tony Richardson

In his excellent illustrated talk, Tony Richardson first gave us a whistle-stop tour of his childhood fascination for birds, his early work with the RSPB with ducks, geese and swans, via flamingos (pink, noisy and smelly), through garden birds to his present position as regional director in Exeter. He is, he said, still waiting for time to be a volunteer!

He then gave us a picture of the RSPB’s work in the south west, both in their reserves and with like-minded partner organisations. He whizzed through the different major habitat types with their typical wildlife, each with its key species that is the primary focus of the RSPB’s work. The wetlands such as Ham Wall, where the focus is to provide breeding habitat for the over wintering bitterns, and where you can still see huge flocks of starlings swirling in the sky before they roost in the reedbeds. The lowland heathland, where in the SW much effort has gone into restoration and management to provide a home suitable for Dartford warblers, and where the numbers of churring male nightjars (therefore potential breeding pairs) has increased by 48% between 1992 and 2004. He told us of the, for him, ‘inspirational’ Wessex chalk grassland, where not only has the BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan) 2010 target of 100 breeding pairs of stone curlews been reached for the first time since the breeding project began (actually 103 pairs) but 2 to 3 short-eared owls have over wintered.

From the reserves Tony moved on to the crisis of decreasing diversity in farmland and garden birds, and the RSPB’s focus on understanding and halting their plummeting decline. Of these the decline in farmland birds is greatest, and more easily understood.

Asked about the decline in garden birds biodiversity, Tony said that although more difficult to understand and therefore to address, it was to become more of a focus for the RSPB in the coming five years.

Despite these gloomy statistics there are successes: the pair of breeding Cornish choughs, which we heard about in a recent talk, and which some people went to see; the cirl bunting breeding numbers increasing in south Devon; the avocets wintering on the Exe. These were, Tony said, as much ‘people’ successes as ‘bird’ successes. For instance, the returning Cornish choughs had given the RSPB an opportunity to involve visitors to the choughs in a ‘Birds are Brilliant’ campaign, introducing them to other seabirds and raising the profile of the dangers to marine life. Similarly, many people come from a long way away to the Exe Estuary cruises and they may not only see the avocets but also become more aware of the importance of our estuaries for migrant waders.

The unsung background work of the RSPB’s is its wide-ranging ‘casework’; work with local councils, planners, businesses and other agencies, to push for ‘favourable conditions’ for biodiversity. For instance they are working hard to try to control the contracting heathland between Teignmouth and Bishopsteignton, home to cirl buntings and under threat from the slow encroachment of new housing from the Teignmouth.

It was hard not to feel discouraged; even the successes had caveats, the cirl buntings have increased in numbers but not range, the choughs have nested for 4 years but there is still only one breeding pair, seabird breeding failures continue. And will we have willow tits still in 5 years?

If not birds; what?

Then at the very end, and with a flourish and a touch of the finger on the laptop (well nearly!) we were treated to a very short RSPB film – all the exciting and emotive bird shots you have ever seen, and then some more, somehow crammed into 4 minutes. Songbirds, seabirds, eagles and ospreys, the albatross running along the runway to take off, hungry birds being fed, birds singing, birds soaring, oh they’d got them all. And I knew that’s why I was there, because Birds are Brilliant! And they need all the help we can give them.