Question: if one swallow doesn’t make a summer, what about none?
Times Online
5/27/2006
Opinion - Simon Barnes
The Times
Wild Notebook by Simon Barnes
THERE IS AN emotion felt by nature-lovers of the 21st century that was never felt in previous ages, not by the greatest scientific observers nor by the finest poets. And that is relief, a feeling perfectly caught by Ted Hughes (admittedly 20th century), celebrating the return of the swifts: “They’ve made it again/ Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s/ Still waking refreshed, our summer’s/ Still to come —” .
And indeed the swifts are back, controlled scream of skid round house-end and away under the cherries, and I feel that old rejoicing-mingled-with-relief every time I see them. But I have been worrying about house martins instead. They nest under the eaves of the house and can trace their lineage back for centuries longer than the house’s human custodians. But not as many as last year: only three nests occupied this time.
Migrants: well, what a life, eh? My African birding friends tell me that swallows are African birds that happen to breed in England. At least I have swallows in good numbers this year, flying in and out of the outbuildings with that cheerful warning double chirrup. I have heard more willow warblers than I did last year, and I had one glorious cuckoo morning: summer is icumen in, lhude sing cuccu. Not in celebration but in relief: I hardly heard a cuckoo at all last year.
PERSONAL experience: not to be confused with scientific observation. But not to be discounted, either. Migrating birds are a cause for worry: and long-term scientific bird counting shows quite clearly that some migrants are declining at an alarming rate. I can’t remember when I last saw a spotted flycatcher — the drabbest bird you have ever seen, and a flight of winsome and deadly (if you are a fly) aerobatics. Spotted flycatchers have declined 86 per cent since 1966.
There are a fair few turtle doves around where I am, but overall, they have declined by 79 percent since 1967. Wood warblers, down 52 per cent; breeding wheatears (not seen one this year) down 15 per cent. The inference is clear: it is getting harder and harder to live the life of a long-distance migrant.
It’s a miracle, migration. Take willow warblers. You could hold half a dozen in your cupped hands and yet each year, they make the double pilgrimage from here to southern Africa and back. This is a bird that operates on the outer limits of life’s possibilities. And it is becoming increasingly clear that we are in the midst of making it still harder for them, and for all migrants.
There are all sorts of ways in which we are doing this. Climate change brings warmer springs, which means the insects breed earlier. Now the migrants are arriving too late for the annual glut. The Sahel, the (comparatively) fertile bit that lies south of the Sahara, is affected by drought and intensive agriculture. As a result, the area is turning to desert, so no relief for the southward-flying migrant. The Sahara itself is getting bigger, because of drought: therefore it is harder to fly over it in a single go. Massive amounts of pesticides in Africa are killing both insects and birds.
As a result, a life on the edge of the possible is being pushed further towards the outer limits. If the trend continues, the migrant’s life will become impossible. And if one swallow doesn’t make a summer, what about none?
CONSERVATION works. I know I have said this before, but I never get bored with writing that brief sentence. There are stirring examples of migratory birds that have had a decline put into reverse. Roseate terns were in great trouble but conservation work in Ghana has brought about a resurgence.
The white stork is one of the symbols of spring in European life. The great birds that come back every year and breed on the chimney pots have always been associated with life: why else do we have the storks-bringing-babies story? They were in sharp decline across Europe, but reintroductions in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Italy has seen increases of up to 30 percent.
So yes, the globe is indeed still working. Just. And conservation becomes more important with every year. And when we have brought the Sahara desert to its maximum possible size, what will we humans do then, poor things? The migrants are not only joy-bringers: they are also the canaries in the mines. It follows, then, that we should pay attention when they start to choke.
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