In Search of One Last Song

Our disappearing birds and the people trying to save them

Patrick Galbraith

• Publisher: William Collins
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780008420505
• eBook ISBN: 9780008420482

Index

The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your eBook. You can use your eBook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

Acheson, Nick 241–8

agriculture

intensification of 70, 92, 97–102, 109, 180, 189, 193, 206, 209–10

subsidies 184, 189, 269

Allen, Jim 9–14, 15, 16

Alnwick Castle 220

Archer, Ewan 148, 150, 151–9

Archer, Karen 158–9

Arrow Mill, Rochdale 63–5

Arundel Castle 220, 223

Ashdown Forest 29

Auchenbrack 93, 94

avocet 154

badger 103, 154, 157, 158, 213

bird predation 69, 82, 85, 88

snaring 40–1

Ballochbuie Forest 148

Banville, Larry 148–9

Barker, Patrick 190–7

Barningham 57

Barr, James 68

Beadnell 272–4

Bedford, Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of 9

Bedford, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of 8

Bedford, Mary Russell, Duchess of 8

Benny (taxidermist) 248–9, 252–7

Beveridge, George 262, 272

biomass boiler 16–17

Birnie, Andy 18–22

bittern 230, 231–59

Bittern Line 249–51

boom/call 232, 242, 246, 248, 257

climate change and 243, 247–8

diet 233

greylag geese and 246

habitat 231–48

hunting of 233, 238

numbers 233, 242, 247

resilience of 246

restoration/rewilding and 242, 244–8

taxidermy 243, 248–9, 252–7

blackbird 26, 150, 177, 234

black grouse 2, 90, 91–115

agricultural intensification and 92, 97–102, 109

decline, causes of 92

decline, rate of 91

diet 92

grouse estates and 91–6

habitat/habitat restoration 91–103, 109–12, 114

hen harrier and 33, 37, 38–9, 40, 41–2, 43, 44, 49–50, 51, 53, 54–5, 57–8, 60, 61

lekking sites 92, 96–7, 109, 110, 111

moors 40, 41, 43, 49–50, 51, 58, 77

native cattle and 97–103, 109–12, 114

numbers 91–2, 94, 113

poetry and 91, 103–8

shooting 33, 41, 43, 54, 60, 93–4

song 91–2

blanket bog 41

Booty, James 23–6

Boyle, Jamie 264–70

Brackenbury, Alison: ‘Lapwings’ 63

Bradfield Woods 15–16

Breadalbane, Lord 149

Brewery Farm 179–86, 191

Brides, Kane 65–6, 67, 69–71

British Trust for Ornithology 15, 23

Broadbent, Stephen 71

brood management 49–50

Browne, Sir Thomas 9

Bruce, Rory Knight 14–15

BSE 102

Buner, Francis 203–14

Bunting, Basil 34–5, 104–5

Bure Marshes 250

Burnside, John: ‘Si Dieu n’existait pas’ 147

Burns, Robert:

‘A Red, Red Rose’ 176–7

Sweet Afton 68

Buxton, Thomas 148–9

buzzard 31, 182, 207, 210, 211

Cadbury family 243

Cadbury, James 266

Caddy, Eileen 163

Caddy, Peter 163

Caesar, Julius 194

Cambrian Lapwing Trust 88

Cambridgeshire Fen 232

camera traps 43

Canada goose 65, 74

Capenoch House 93–4

capercaillie 5, 146, 147–73

badger and 154, 157–8

call 148, 149–50

copulation 150

deer and 155–6, 158, 165, 167, 168–9

diet 152

habitat/habitat restoration 149, 152–3, 156, 162–9

last native Scottish 147–8

numbers in Scotland 147–8, 150–4

poetry and 147

predators 153, 154, 156–7, 165–6

reintroduction attempts 149, 172

shooting ban 151

carbon capture 41, 189

Carrbridge 158

Carrington Moss 76–8

cattle 85, 86, 87, 245, 246, 247

black grouse and 97–102, 109, 110, 111, 114

corncrake and 264, 266, 267, 268, 269–70

Cefngwyn 82–3

cereals 70

Charles II, King 206

chickweed 193

Chris Packham: Forever Punk 4

Clare, John 28

‘Farewell’ 231

‘The Nightin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: Below the burn: Dumfriesshire, autumn 2008
• Introduction: Waterloo Station, January 2020
• 21.24 grams
• Beauty beneath his boot
• The lapwing act
• But if you listen carefully
• The souls of our dead
• Putting down roots
• The bell tolls for the turtle dove
• Another church
• Four long Ukrainians
• Out northwest
• Epilogue: The dog fox
• Acknowledgements
• Reading and listening
• Index
• About This Book
• About the Author
• About the Publisher