Pulling the birds - Killing with kindness

IT SEEMS that we may be killing birds with kindness. By feeding winter residents we may, unintentionally, be stacking the odds against migratory species.

A study conducted in Down found that birds fed in winter enjoy a successful breeding season, which may mean that migrants face more competition when they arrive here for the summer breeding season.

This is a concern especially where migratory birds are in decline for other reasons such as climate change and the modernisation of African agriculture.

Just as in so many cases of man’s interference with the natural world — especially introducing species to new ranges — our good intentions may have negative consequences we never envisaged.

Researchers have urged, however, that we keep feeding the birds. With enough bird food sold in Britain to sustain more than 30 million great tits, leaving the bird table bare would have a huge impact on populations.

Once again the seamless relationship between our behaviours and their consequences for the natural world is seen for what it is: a reminder that we are just part of the natural order, not masters of it.