The sound of silence

If measures to make intensive farming more compatible with bird biodiversity are not prioritised, our skies will become very silent, writes Oliver Moore

THE 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring falls this September. That seminal book documented what then seemed like massive declines in bird populations. The silence Carson referred to came from fewer birds singing due to the negative effects of pesticides like DDT on bird populations.

Today the situation is far worse. Farmland bird populations are considered indicators of overall flora and fauna health. They are at the lowest levels since records began across Europe, including in Ireland.