Prof Richard Gregory, head of monitoring at the RSPB, called the overall findings “shocking and sobering”. “Birds are indicators of the way we’re looking after the countryside and the world around us,” he said. Farming & bird flu (& the modern virus started in poultry farming) are the main drivers.
‘Shocking and sobering’: UK bird populations fall to lowest level on record
Nearly half of species are in decline, with farmland birds and seabirds the worst hit, conservation bodies say
theguardian.com
![...within hours of journalists on either the *Guardian* or *Sunday Times* contacting Reform for comment on the same stories ahead of them publishing their own investigations. Reform deputy leader Richard Tice and his fiancée, supposed journalist Isabel Oakeshott, even crowed online about their spoiler tactics.
Not that the *Telegraph* doesn't do its own leg work when reporting on Reform. After James Orr, the party's head of policy, had to resign after a sting by *Channel 4 News* (see "*Right Orr Wrong*, p14"), *Telegraph* chief reporter Rob Mendick texted Orr: "I was hoping to talk to you entirely on background," he schmoozed. "You must be feeling very bruised and I totally Appreciate [sic] the sensitivities. I suspect you deserve better and I wanted to see how I can put the record straight in some way." Alas, instead of the Reformer and Cambridge theologian, Mendick messaged someone else, who shared it with the *Eye*!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6laekojw3whqu64tlaxopvgx/bafkreieipkj46khnpw7hzz3bb6qr6ofuedp7ct22qifewv7t2il3icjskm)
