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Application for existing stocks wildlife trade operation - call for public comments open from 26 June 2017 until 26 July 2017

The tiny satellite was designed by Rifath Sharrook, 18, and manufactured using a 3-D printer.

Is it a good idea to rely on natural gas?

The birds commonly seen in urban backyards of Australia are increasingly introduced species like this house sparrow, sharing a birdbath with a native red-browed finch. Wanda Optland

While running the Australian Bird Feeding and Watering Study, I have been surveying people on whether they try to discourage undesirable birds from entering their gardens.

For the survey, I used the term “undesirable birds” for introduced species such as spotted doves or house sparrows. Judging by the volume of complaints I received, I may have misjudged this definition – introduced does not necessarily mean “undesirable”!

I was surprised to discover how much people appreciate the spotted doves, house sparrows, blackbirds and other “undesirables” that hang around their gardens. People care about these birds, even though ecologists officially consider them pests.

Two house sparrows can be seen here enjoying a bath among native New Holland honeyeaters. Wanda Optland

This raises an interesting question. Introduced birds are often considered to be pests, but does that necessarily mean we shouldn’t interact with or enjoy them at all?

House sparrows, spotted doves and Indian mynas dominate many urban areas, are dependent on us to survive, and appear to cause little damage to native species. There is very little peer-reviewed evidence of environmental impact of introduced birds on other species. Without us and our urban development, one wonders how common they would be.

In an increasingly urbanised world, many birds are having to adapt to a new habitat: the urban jungle. I live in a rented house in inner Melbourne, and in my very small garden I have two spotted doves and a family of house sparrows. I would love to have some small native birds visit me, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen because of where I live.

Many bird lovers are so concerned with encouraging native species that they feel guilty about enjoying the only birds that do visit. But should we care any less about them because they are introduced species? After all, it’s not as if my garden is getting much love from the natives – the local magpie ignores my entreaties, and the wattlebirds are too busy arguing over the bottlebrush trees that line our street. In their absence, why shouldn’t I form a bond with Mr and Mrs Spotted Dove who have been with me for three years? A spotted dove. Wanda Optland

Friendly feeders

It seems I am not the only one who feels this way. My preliminary survey results suggest that many people get pleasure from helping wild birds, whether by providing food, water or somewhere for them to live. As many species are relatively long-lived, the same birds visit time and again, and some people even consider them part of their household.

Some respondents said they find that birds alleviate anxiety and depression, or as one of my citizen scientists put it:

I try to feed birds responsibly because it lifts my depression. Connects me to nature. Makes me happy.

Another told me:

The emotional feeling watching the birds is better than any pill.

For many respondents, the relationship with individual birds seems to matter more than whether or not they are a native species. As another respondent told me:

I feel that I have a relationship with the birds that come to my garden. Some of them sit on the patio and wait for me.

A spotted dove seen on the left shares a cool spot in the backyard with a native double-barred finch. Wanda Optland

I can relate. My two spotted doves are always in my garden, and will follow me around until I give them some seeds. They provide great entertainment for my two indoor cats who watch through the flyscreen. I feel connected to them, despite any lingering guilt about encouraging non-native species.

Native to where?

As with most things in life, this issue is far from black and white anyway. With the possible exception of a magpie’s familiar warbling song, what could be more Aussie than the sound of laughing kookaburras? But did you know that they are non-native to Western Australia and Tasmania? It’s a similar story for rainbow lorikeets, whose colourful plumage is a common sight in and around Perth despite them being non-native there.

What about less lovable species, such as the Indian mynas, also called common mynas, and rock doves, also known as feral pigeons or (rather less kindly) “flying rats”?

An introduced bird species, Indian mynas are commonly seen in urban gardens of eastern Australia. Wanda Optland

Indian mynas do particularly well in many urban areas such as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. This is partly because of the prevalence of large gumtrees with little or no understorey, which reflect very closely their natural habitat. Could it be that their success is largely down to us?

Rock doves also get a very bad rap, despite being descended from war pigeons that were credited with saving hundreds of human lives. Think about that the next time one gives you the eye while you eat your lunch in the city!

So should we feel guilty for loving introduced birds? If caring for birds is good for our mental health, then perhaps the answer is no, even though we want to see native species thrive wherever possible. Do you provide food or water for introduced birds? I would love to see your comments.

Often we have little choice anyway. Sometimes, because of where we live, introduced birds are the only ones who care to interact with us. As much as I would love to see an Australian king parrot visit my little Melbourne backyard, I will probably have to be content with just my spotted doves and house sparrows for company.

Grainne Cleary received a small grant from Mars BirdCare to help support her research

Numbers of skylarks have declined dramatically in western Europe. from www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND

New Zealand has an audacious plan to protect its native birds. The country has pledged to rid itself of introduced mammalian predators by 2050 and, this year, will spend $20 million on the Battle for the Birds, one of the largest predator control programmes in the country’s history, across more than 800,000 hectares of land.

Of the 168 bird species that are native to New Zealand, four in five are in trouble, according to a report published last month by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. New Zealand’s native birds deserve all the help they can get, but this should not detract from the fact that new data show that several introduced bird species are also disappearing.

European settlers arrive with avian cargo

The early settlers brought 130 bird species to New Zealand, and 41 of them established. Given that in lowland areas in the Canterbury province, for example, less than 1% of the original biodiversity remains, perhaps we should place greater value on non-native biodiversity, faute de mieux.

Not everybody agrees with the value of non-native birds. In 1883, Te Whiti was the leader of a peaceful resistance movement at Parihaka, protesting about the sometimes violent confiscation of land by European settlers. He cared about endemic fauna and wrote: “it was not good work bringing those birds out here; they eat all the potatoes and the oats; they are not good birds to bring out … were there not plenty of good birds in New Zealand that eat no man’s food?”

A key recent development, however, which appears to be raising New Zealanders’ awareness of the value of introduced birds is the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey, organised by Eric Spurr of Landcare Research. This is an example of well-managed citizen science, garnering the help of New Zealanders to make systematic observations. After a decade of data gathering, the results show that at least six non-native species - starling, song thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, chaffinch, and dunnock - have declined since the survey started.

Silent gardens

The counts are only of birds in gardens, and the reasons for the declines have not been determined, but the picture is beginning to mirror the dramatic declines in bird populations in Europe over the last 40 years. Even the common starling is declining in Britain, at the rate of 150 birds for every hour since the 1980s. The skylark too has suffered dramatic changes in its numbers in western Europe. A major decline of 75% between 1972 and 1996 put in the Red List.

In Europe, these birds have played an enormous part in art, poetry and literature for hundreds of years. One is reminded of the poem The Lark Ascending by Meredith, and Vaughan Williams’ music on the same theme. In art, birds such as the goldfinch have featured in work by Fabritius and Tiepolo, and throughout the Renaissance period this bird’s blood-red face and its habit of feeding on thorny thistles led to its association with Christ on the cross. Even the Beatles sang a song called Blackbird, in 1968.

In New Zealand, introduced bird species do not seem to generate the same level of affection as endemic ones, such as the tui. In Canterbury, flocks of rooks, which are a key part of the English countryside, were common, but they have been poisoned and shot almost to extinction.

Nature’s health benefits

International research is clearly showing the restorative benefits of “a dose of nature”, such as a walk in the countryside. Recently, Lin Roberts and colleagues at Lincoln University wrote a major report for the New Zealand Department of Conservation which analysed and quantified the contribution of native ecosystems to New Zealanders’ mental health. However, we can’t afford to ignore the contribution that our non-native flora and fauna make to our sense of place and well-being.

It is quite possible that the contribution which introduced bird species make to New Zealand is also delivering other ecosystem functions and services. They eat weed seeds and pest insects, pollinate native shrubs and trees and distribute the seeds of native and endemic plants, just as our endemic birds used to do before their numbers were drastically reduced by New Zealand’s introduced predator fauna.

In Britain, urbanisation, fragmentation of the countryside and intensification of agriculture are being associated with these huge losses. In New Zealand, there have been dramatic changes in the farming landscape over the last decade or so. Are these changes likely to impact on the surveys of garden birds? It would be foolish to speculate too boldly on whether farming intensification has impacts on garden bird numbers as there is no serious monitoring of farmland birds.

However, any declines there could be yet another warning of this country’s biodiversity loss. Male skylarks used to sing in the sky above my house when we were surrounded by low-intensity farming, but now I see and hear virtually none. We are beginning to lose our under-valued introduced bird species and this should be a cause for concern.

Stephen D Wratten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

DUP and Brexit talks | Brian Cant | Blackpool body shapes | Butterflies | Swallows

In light of the negotiating skills shown by the DUP in securing a very favourable outcome for Northern Ireland in the ongoing “confidence and supply” talks (Report, 22 May), should the Tories not send the DUP to Europe for the Brexit talks instead of their current team. They might fare a lot better.
Fiona Doherty
Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland

• Thanks to Lucy Mangan for revealing that not only did Brian Cant appear to be a good guy, he really was one (Mr Play School, G2, 21 June). A terrifying memory from my daughter’s childhood was when she disappeared among the sand dunes. I commandeered a search party from local students and one shouted at me: “I’m not sure if it’s her, but it could be. She says her name’s Cuthbert.” Thanks to Brian Cant we all burst out laughing and nobody got a severe talking-to.
Margaret Squires
St Andrew, Fife

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Hutton cited health issues when he announced his decision to quit as president of the anti-mining group Lock the Gate

Drew Hutton, a giant of the Australian environmental movement, has announced his retirement as a leading activist in his 70th year.

Hutton, described by Australian Greens co-founder Bob Brown as the “driving force” for the party’s formation in 1992, cited health issues for his decision to quit last week as president of the anti-mining group Lock the Gate.

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Deforestation in the Amazon is increasing amid cuts to protection, putting Norway’s financial aid in jeopardy, says minister

• Leia este artigo em português

Norway has issued a blunt threat to Brazil that if rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is not reversed, its billion-dollar financial assistance will fall to zero. The leaders of the two nations meet in Oslo on Friday.

The oil-rich Scandinavian nation has provided $1.1bn to Brazil’s Amazon fund since 2008, tied to reductions in the rate of deforestation in the world’s greatest rainforest. The destruction of forests by timber and farming industries is a major contributor to the carbon emissions that drive climate change and Norway views protecting the Amazon as vital for the whole world.

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O desmatamento na Amazônia vem aumentando em meio a cortes à proteção do meio ambiente, e colocando o apoio financeiro vindo da Noruega em risco, diz ministro

• Read this article in English

A Noruega fez uma clara ameaça ao Brasil de que caso o crescente índice de desmatamento na Amazônia não seja revertido, a ajuda financeira de um bilhão de dólares vai ser reduzida a zero. Os líderes de ambos países se encontram em Oslo, nesta sexta.

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A 20% shortfall in migrant workers relied on to pick fruit and vegetables is blamed on Brexit making the UK seem ‘xenophobic’

Farms have been hit with a shortage of the migrant workers that Britain relies on to bring in the fruit and vegetable harvests, according to a series of new reports.

There was a 17% shortfall in May, leaving some farms critically short of pickers, according to a new National Farmers Union (NFU) survey. The decline is blamed on Brexit, with the vote to depart the EU leaving the UK seen as “xenophobic” and “racist” by overseas workers, according to the director of a major agricultural recruitment company.

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The shrinking size of whales over the 20th Century could help scientists detect when wildlife populations are in trouble, a study suggests.

OHB and SSTL will make the next eight, possibly even the next 14, satellites for Europe's GPS.

My friend David Hoyle, who has died in a car accident aged 48, was a social scientist who devoted his life to protecting African forests and natural ecosystems for the biodiversity they harbour, for the local people who depend on them, and to secure their vital role in mitigating dangerous climate change. He worked for numerous NGOs, including VSO, WWF, and WCS, which took him to many African countries as a teacher, field project manager and national director.

The second of three children born to Mike Hoyle, a management consultant, and Marion (nee Knight), a housewife, David grew up in Farnham, Surrey, completed school at Lancing college in West Sussex and read geography at Reading University before doing a master’s in natural resource management at Edinburgh.

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So far, 15,696 people have taken part in the 2017 Great British Bee Count, recording 288,341 bees, some of which are pictured here. You have eight days left to join this year’s count which will run until 30 June 2017

• Download the free app to monitor and learn about our endangered bee population and get tips for bee-friendly planting

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Environment minister Jan Szyszko has called for Białowieża to lose its heritage status, saying it was granted ‘illegally’

Poland’s environment minister, Jan Szyszko, whom green activists have criticised for allowing large-scale logging in the ancient Białowieża forest, has called for the woodland to be stripped of Unesco’s natural heritage status, banning human intervention.

Białowieża, straddling Poland’s eastern border with Belarus, includes one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain 10,000 years ago. It also boasts unique plant and animal life, including the continent’s largest mammal, the European bison.

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Vector wins tender with LG Chem battery storage, which grid operator says will allow significant increase in solar capacity in Alice Springs and a payback in 4 years.

The conservation group WWF is warning that koalas could be wiped out in some Australian states amid deforestation and increasing attacks by livestock.

Habitat loss, pollution, climate change, over-exploitation and poaching are all threatening a lifeline for local communities

Wildlife-based tourism is growing rapidly worldwide as the number of tourists continues to grow and as we, as travellers, seek out new and more enriching personal experiences with local cultures and wildlife. This is what inspired me to take six months unpaid leave from the grind of legal practice many years ago and backpack around South America with my little sister. Experiencing the natural beauty of places like the Amazon rainforest, Iguazú Falls and Machu Picchu and the local people fighting to protect them was life-changing.

The UN World Tourism Organisation estimates that 7% of world tourism relates to wildlife tourism, growing annually at about 3%, and much higher in some places, like our Unesco world heritage sites. A WWF report shows that 93% of all natural heritage sites support recreation and tourism and 91% of them provide jobs. In Belize, more than 50% of the population are said to be supported by income generated through reef-related tourism and fisheries.

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A data map of 25 London cycling corridors could be crucial for future superhighways, but critics say it’s a distraction from getting the job done

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Transport for London (TfL) has taken census data, cycle counts, surveys and data from the city’s hire bikes to identify future urban development and growth hotspots and collision data. They have created a map of 25 corridors across London, along which the greatest number of cycling trips could be generated.

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Move to block EU ban comes despite environment secretary Michael Gove saying, ‘I don’t want to water down’ EU protections

Conservative politicians are trying to stop a complete EU ban on bee-harming pesticides, despite the new environment secretary Michael Gove’s statement earlier this week, in which he said “I absolutely don’t want to water down” EU environmental protections.

Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticides but have been banned on flowering crops in the EU since 2013. However, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) found in 2016 that use of the pesticides on all crops poses a high risk to bees. As a result, the European commission has proposed a ban on all uses outside greenhouses, first revealed by the Guardian in March.

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