Birds, Scythes and Combines

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Michael Shrubb is a retired farmer with a lifelong interest in birds which he has been studying since the late 1950s. This unique book examines the impact of changes in farming methods on the bird populations of British farmland over the past 250 years. Despite the scale of change in agricultural methods in the late C18 and C19, farmland birds were little affected, with many benefitting from the extensive new resources. In contrast, modern farming methods have led to a collapse in the diversity of farmland and consequent steep declines in bird numbers.
`Michael Shrubb has done all the hard work of trawling through the literature and has produced a book that is comprehensive and highly readable. Birds, Scythes and Combines will provide a valuable reference.' British Wildlife Magazine.