We are outnumbered - but we shouldn't give up!

摘要

In response to Iain Robertson's editorial in the March issue of BB, I contend that bird conservationists in the UK actually have a pretty good record of saving species, whether it be the return of the Osprey Pandion hali-aetus, the recovery of the Bittern Botaurus stellaris or the increase in numbers of Corn Crakes Crex crex. I can now see a Red Kite Milvus milvus from my Northamptonshire garden on any day of the year, whereas as a boy growing up in Bristol I had to make several trips to mid Wales before I saw my first. And when I was born, the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus was a rare and endangered species, whereas now I can see it regularly in central London. Add to that the land now purchased and managed for nature conservation and the sitesthat have been saved from destruction (such as the North Kent Marshes from an airport, the Flow Country from further afforestation) and that makes a sizeable legacy of success.