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Not seen a swallow but plenty of house martins. No Swifts although I haven't been along the River Tweed where I usually see them but I remember swifts screaming around me on the top of Kilhope Law in the North Pennines forty years ago. Also low on wasps but I did destroy a nest early on. Small birds are now heavily reliant on garden feeding. David Byrne Ph.D., FAcSS see my recent book: Class after Industry: a complex realist approach https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030026431 ________________________________ From: email list for Radical Statistics <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Moore, Robert <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:54 PM To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Record low number of British butterflies baffles scientists.. False news crisis - a warning for any statistical survey of time varying phenomena. If I’ve seen any swallows this year – it’s been in single figures. Wasps, a really notable absence. When I took my lunch into the garden on Monday two wasps immediately turned up. One cleared off, the other didn’t bother me. Probably didn’t like the look of my lunch. Annoying as they can be, they do have a role to play in the great scheme of things. Lindy does daily counts and the annual butterfly census for this area – very sharp decline in numbers this year, but this has happened before and numbers usually recover the next year. To return to stats – maps of the distribution of birds, butterflies etc always look like human population maps. It’s people that do the counting so one would not expect it to be otherwise. But interesting things might be happening where there aren’t any people observing. While there might be a few ecologists out in the less populated areas they cannot provide the density of observation that you have in peoples’ back gardens and parks. Perhaps in any research project there is always an element of ‘what’s happening where I’m not looking?’ Robert From: email list for Radical Statistics <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Roger Boyle Sent: 30 September 2020 12:09 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Record low number of British butterflies baffles scientists.. False news crisis - a warning for any statistical survey of time varying phenomena. I've also noticed an absence of wasps - which some may find positive, but it does seem concerning. There were rather more than normal in West Wales. ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. ******************************************************* ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. ******************************************************* ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************