Last year, I noticed that there were far fewer Swallows in the skies over Bath than the year before, and this year I have not seen one. Usually the Swifts, Swallows and Martins seem to fill the sky as they wheel and dart around, catching insects to feed their young.
I wondered what is going on, so I looked it up.
Mainly in Egypt but also across the whole North African coast, men are putting up 'mist nets' between high poles, catching anything that flies into them, killing the birds in their hundreds of thousands and selling them to the Chinese as food for their restaurants. A particular delicacy is the extremely rare Golden Oriel, which is considered a form of Viagra by particularly stupid Chinese men.
Since childhood when I first learned that these birds journey thousands of miles every year to return to the same little eave or farmhouse wall as last, and that the young that they raise there will not stop flying - even sleeping on the wing at high altitude - until they reach breeding age after three years, I always say welcome to the first one I see overhead, swooping around and waiting for its fellows to join it. I felt so privileged that this little bird had made the long and hazardous journey just to be in the area I live.
Even if they stop the handful of men who are killing all the migrating birds as they leave the African continent to go North, I don't think that their numbers will increase before I die. Summers will never be the same again.
This has to be an international crime, but since it is a national sport in Malta to shoot migrating birds as they fly over, and that the Maltese recently voted to maintain the despicable tradition, I don't think they will stop until the numbers get so low as to make it commercially unviable.
ReplyDeleteTo my eternal shame, I once bought a small tin of 'Sparrows in Sauce', in Spain, simply because I wondered why they killed them. The contents were very ordinary and tasteless, which made me wonder even more!
ReplyDeleteI always welcome the Cranes when they return each Spring; I also wish them bon voyage when they depart.
What do Cranes taste like?
Deletep.s. Our very few Swallows often swoop down and drink from our pool whilst I'm swimming.
DeleteThat's disgusting.
DeleteYes Tom - I feel as you do. I have not seen a single swallow, martin or swift this year. At the farm - only two fields away from where I live now - we always had house martins round the house and swallows in the barn. I look up into a clear blue sky but never see a bird. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteIn Jerusalem there is a festive reception for the swifts every year.
ReplyDeleteThere should be here too. In a small way there is, I suppose, but it is rural not urban. Not many people look up in town.
DeleteNow that you mention it, we haven't had the barn swallows here for a few (?) years. They used to dive bomb the cat every time he stepped outside. That's a despicable practise that you have described. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteI think Jenny below has a point too.
DeleteI have heard that lack of their traditional food of insects is affecting them a great deal, also loss of habitat. Probably more than a few nets. YOu could probably do your little bit about that by making a pond and contacting the RSPB or Gardenwatch to find out how to offer them safe nesting spots
ReplyDeleteYes, that is true. Because of modern farming techniques, insects have been cut down by a massive 75% in only a few years.
DeleteAnd they catch ortolans in France, gouge out their eyes and drown them in wine. So too with bobolinks.
ReplyDeleteI think they must have inherited the Roman taste for rare delicacies.
DeleteThere were fewer swifts around the church roofs in sitges this year
ReplyDeleteThat would be one of their first stop-offs I suppose.
DeleteThis makes me ill. I will look for the swallows in Wisconsin next week, where I always see them.
ReplyDeleteIt is very depressing. 'There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover...'
DeleteI didn't know this happened and wish I hadn't read it. The cruel and hideous ways in which humans treat animals (including birds and fish) know no bounds it seems and that makes me sad and angry.
ReplyDeleteI saw mention of something called glue traps for birds the other day - but couldn't bear to read the detail for fear of having nightmares. Ye gods, how ingenious humans can be when it comes to hurting other creatures.
If it were one or two birds then it would be more understandable. To kill for sport or profit disgusts me, and I once owned shotguns.
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