Return of the Lum Lintie
We keep hearing about vanishing species just as we keep hearing worrying news of global warming or the return of the Ice Age. Just as climatologists [like doctors!] seem to disagree so do the experts who predict the extinction of bird species or drastic climate change.
Sometimes, of course, they are right. The Passenger Pigeon of North America declined from being the most numerous species in the World to final extinction in a matter of less than a century. Similar fates befell the Dodo and the Great Auk, both as a result of human predation, but we really should take some dire predictions with a handful of salt.
The truth of the matter is that all living things survive in balance with their surroundings: their ecosystem. Variations in the ecosystem may cause a species either to decline or expand. This is happening all the time with the result that many animals and plants wax and wane over time. In fact all populations [save the too-successful human species] follow a sine curve of maxima and minima. |
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When a normal dip in the number of a given species occurs it is difficult at first to know if this is part of the normal sine curve or whether the species is plunging towards extinction.
Recently we have had dire warnings about several birds whose numbers have fallen so drastically that it was feared they were on the way to permanent extinction. For several years there have been concerns about Song Thrushes, Skylarks, House Sparrows, Grey Partridges and, more recently, Tree Pipits.
Many reasons for these declines have been suggested and most of them are attributed to human activity. For example use of molluscicides to protect our gardens from slugs is thought to have played a part in the loss of Song Thrushes; Skylarks have declined in parallel with changed agricultural practices and House Sparrows because nesting sites have decreased with modern building techniques. But the news is not so bad: there were Skylarks singing in Glen Quaich this spring and anyone who takes a trip to Seaton Cliffs at Arbroath might rate them common. There are more Song Thrushes singing in my garden this year than I ever remember. As for the Lum Lintie there are plenty In Grandtully, Strathtay and Aberfeldy. All these places have old buildings with eaves where the Sparrows nest. They are now so abundant in the Aberfeldy Square that one might think they shop at the Co-op. The more recent causes for concern, the Tree Pipit and Grey Partridge, are certainly missing from many of their haunts this season. Though they have been fairly easy to find in previous summers I have only found one or two this year. That could be the beginning of the end but is probably more likely to be a blip in the sine curve.
The Lum Lintie, Philip, Spadger, Spug, Gealbhonn or House Sparrow has not always been the familiar chirping gutter-percher of our cities. After the ice age it was probably scarce in Britain but it spread from Western Eurasia and increased as man’s settlements and farms became widespread in Britain. It rose to its height of population with the horse, for sparrows have always been interested in the food of horses to say nothing of their droppings. Though cars have ousted horses from our cities the cheeky little sparrows have thrived along with man. To most people they are so familiar as to be unnoticed but next time you are in the Square take time to watch them for they are full of impudent character as they hop along the pavement inspecting the detritus for goodies.
Sparrows proverbially are supposed to have led the soldiers to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by their constant chirping. In consequence they were cursed by having their legs bound together invisibly so that forever they must hop.
Cursed or no it’s good to see them back for they promise the return of other declining species.
© Robin Hull
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