All That Glitters
‘THE bad news is that the goldfinch population is on the rise.
Britains songbird contingent has plummeted by 40 per cent in recent decades but now the numbers are growing.
These are ominous times, and become darker still when the Mail reports that this upsurge in the goldfinch fortunes is partly down to humans putting out high-energy seed on bird tables.
These people are helping the goldfinch to increase in numbers the BTO believes there are 300,000 breeding pairs in the UK but in the war with the birds no quarter must be given for looks and voices.
While ugly turkeys and tuneless chickens are being slaughtered on the Continent as the bird flu moves ever closer, Britons are fattening up goldfinches.
Can this be right? BTO spokesman Martin Fowlie (his real name?) thinks so. He tells the Mail: They really do brighten up the garden and it would have been a pity to lose them.
Indeed, the Goldfinch, with its red face and yellow patches on its tiny wings, is a thing of beauty. But in the war with the birds might it harbour a darker, more malevolent side?’
Posted: 7th, March 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
