The British countryside is being killed by herbicides and insecticides!

Ptarmigan

Member
Whilst there is little doubt that our industry needs to change from an environmental point of view... I struggle to believe an article that suggests rabbits are in decline, really.

BBC News 16th May:

" .. a BTO survey suggests European rabbit numbers in the UK have declined by around 60 per cent over the last 20 years. In turn, other species from birds to invertebrates are also suffering as a result."

Of course David, even when there is a national decline in numbers, there may still be a few small areas where numbers are doing well.

I'm sure the folks at Mammal Mapper would be interested to hear from you, if you're still seeing lots of Rabbits.

Mammal Mapper
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Whilst there is little doubt that our industry needs to change from an environmental point of view... I struggle to believe an article that suggests rabbits are in decline, really.
and if there is a decline in rabbits as i've yet to see here it will be because of the massive increase in the predators in this area and the rest of the country
 
Nothing to do with the development in the countryside either? More encroachment of massive housing developments made of plastic, no solar, no privet hedges, no trees? Road pollution, the amounts of litter. More cars on the roads? endless its not just one person or one industry. I do love it when people live in homes clad in plastic, 2 cars in the drive, wasteful families and unsustainable living breeding like rabbits pointing the finger.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
Nothing to do with the development in the countryside either? More encroachment of massive housing developments made of plastic, no solar, no privet hedges, no trees? Road pollution, the amounts of litter. More cars on the roads? endless its not just one person or one industry. I do love it when people live in homes clad in plastic, 2 cars in the drive, wasteful families and unsustainable living breeding like rabbits pointing the finger.

If you think I'm going to build a housing estate just to get rid of rabbits....

Mind you, both Sir David Attenborough and myself agree that most of the problems are caused by a human population explosion that is out of control. Myxomatosis anyone?
 

RobFZS

Member
Have these retards at the loss making Guardian stepped outside the office to see this dying countryside recently? i would love to know why my hedge rose are stuffed full and the docks are about 4ft tall on the margins?

Meanwhile they advocate the net migration of a city every year and dont think that at all contributes to removing green fields from the system, they would soon be spluttering if they got challenged on it
 

Ptarmigan

Member
the guardian again with its one sided biased reporting not even going to bother to read it will stick to the beano

Do you read - The - Independent:

"'The natural world is in serious trouble and it needs our help as never before,' Sir David Attenborough says"

"The UK is now one of the “most nature-depleted countries in the world” with more than one in seven species facing extinction and more than half in decline, according to the State of Nature 2016 report."

"Britain’s farmers are given most of the blame by the report, which was produced by more than 50 different organisations including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the National Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum."

"It found modern agricultural techniques had had a major impact on wildlife over the last four decades – and it had been “overwhelmingly negative”."

UK one of 'least natural countries in the world' with one in seven species facing extinction
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Do you read - The - Independent:

"'The natural world is in serious trouble and it needs our help as never before,' Sir David Attenborough says"

"The UK is now one of the “most nature-depleted countries in the world” with more than one in seven species facing extinction and more than half in decline, according to the State of Nature 2016 report."

"Britain’s farmers are given most of the blame by the report, which was produced by more than 50 different organisations including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the National Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum."

"It found modern agricultural techniques had had a major impact on wildlife over the last four decades – and it had been “overwhelmingly negative”."

UK one of 'least natural countries in the world' with one in seven species facing extinction
No same crap different name
 

Ptarmigan

Member
No same crap different name

So basically, you don't trust The Guardian or The Independent, or any of their sources ... or the 50 different organisations who contributed detailed information for that report.

I assume then that you only trust reports that state that farmers have had no part to play in the decline of Insect, Wildflower & Bird species etc. in our countryside.

Perhaps you'd like to post a link to a study which clears farmers of any blame.
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
So basically, you don't trust The Guardian or The Independent, or any of their sources ... or the 50 different organisations who contributed detailed information for that report.

I assume then that you only trust reports that state that farmers have had no part to play in the decline of Insect, Wildflower & Bird species etc. in our countryside.

Perhaps you'd like to post a link to a study which clears farmers of any blame.
Perhaps I don’t
 

honeyend

Member
I am all for being aware of what the effects of sprays can or may do but I bet the chances are each of these commentators have at least one car in their family, possibly two. We all have effects on our environment, the amount off rubbish I collect off our rat run country road depresses me, these are not kids, I found sports drinks after the men in lycra cycle race and the local half marathon. Oh then there are the used nappies and sanitary towels, dumped on the side of the road and dragged in to the field by foxes. I hope they bring in the deposit scheme soon for bottles and cans soon, then I may risk a dunking collecting them out of the ditches
Farmers were the original recyclers, what can not be fixed with baler twine? All our farm buildings that have stood for over 60years are made from recycled wood and metal, not pretty but functional.
Its just easier to blame someone else and not ourselves and farmers are a big target. God forbid someone finds a slug hole on their veg, that would be news as well.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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