The Boiled Frog

When change happens very slowly one sometimes doesn't notice it. This is true of the frog which, if dropped into boiling water, will hop straight out again but which, if put into cooler water which is heated up very slowly, will stay in the water until it boils to death. Well.... Maybe!

It's certainly true of the local starlings. They used to move around in large, chattering flocks making their presence felt by their greed and very poor table manners at the bird feeders.

Yesterday I realise I hadn't seen one in ages; perhaps not even this winter. What makes things worse is that the numbers in the UK are supposed to increase in the winter due to immigration of birds from northern Europe.

You'd have thought I would have noticed their decline from the way they haven't been wrecking the bird feeders: I didn't.

According to the BTO, British starlings declined in numbers by 57% in the years between 1995 and 2023, such a drop that the species is now on the UK red list as a bird of 'conservation concern'. However, as far as continental Europe is concerned, they are not threatened - in fact they are classified as amongst the birds of 'least concern'.

I don't want starlings to disappear completely but I do hope that those that survive will bring up their children with good table manners.