Birds, Scythes and Combines: A History of Birds and Agricultural Change

ISBN-13: 9780521814638 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 384 str.

Michael Shrubb

Opis

Despite the scale of change in agricultural methods in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, farmland birds were little affected, with many benefiting from the appearance of extensive new resources. This book is an historical account of the impact of changes in farming methods on the bird populations of British farmland over the past 250 years. A comparison with modern experience shows significant differences, with the more recent changes in grassland management, herbicide use and harvesting methods leading to a loss of diversity in farmland and, consequently, resulting in steep declines in bird numbers.

Recenzje

'… provides the most comprehensive review of the relationship between British farming and birds yet written … mass of interesting historical and contemporary detail … eminently readable.' The Agricultural History Review

Spis treści

Introduction; Acknowledgements; 1. The agricultural background; 2. The farmland birds; 3. Arable farming systems: high farming and before; 4. Enclosure; 5. Some thoughts on hedges; 6. Drainage; 7. Weeds, weeding and pesticides; 8. Arable farming systems: after 1945; 9. Grassland and stock; 10. Winter food resources; 11. Labour, machines and buildings; 12. Exploitation; 13. Conclusions; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Bibliography and references; Index.