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Farmland birds are important indicators of the ecological health of our countryside and the recently published figures show how bad the situation is. BirdWatch Ireland and BirdLife Europe have revealed that farmland bird populations in Ireland and across Europe are at their lowest levels since records began. Grey partridge Perdix perdix numbers are down a massive 82pc, the skylark Alauda arvensis 46pc, the linnet Carduelis cannabina 62pc and the corn bunting Miliaria calandra 66pc. I wrote recently about how the curlew Numenius arquata is facing extinction and yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella numbers are at their lowest ever levels, while many other previously common farmland birds have shown significant, long-term declines. Intensive farming creates difficulties for almost all wildlife. Monocultures of grain and grasses provide little food for seed eaters unless generous margins are left at the headlands. Early mowing for silage removes vital springtime habitat. Drainage destroys wetlands and the damage done by removing hedgerows is well known. Pesticides can kill far more than the target 'pests' by also harming beneficial insects and the birds that feed on them, and continuous tillage depletes the organic matter in the soil. Slug pellets harm the creatures that eat slugs and rat poison can end up in the digestive systems of birds like barn owls. Careless spreading of slurry and silage effluent often causes serious pollution, as do incorrectly installed septic tanks, yet howls of protest are heard whenever someone points this out.

A disease that is killing greenfinches Carduelis chloris and chaffinches Fringilla coelebs in the UK has now spread to Europe, scientists report. A paper in the journal Ecohealth confirms that the disease has been found in Finland, Norway and Sweden and is at risk of moving further afield. The disease, called trichomonosis, is caused by a parasite and was first seen in finches in the UK in 2005. Since then, the country's greenfinches have declined by 35% and chaffinch populations have fallen by 7%.

According to Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) the disease, Nosema ceranae, has been confirmed in Scotland for the first time. The disease is linked to the dwindling of honey bee colonies and is believed to be widespread in Europe, with a number of cases recorded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Nosema ceranae is a microsporidial disease affecting honey bees related to the microsporidial disease, Nosema apis - producing dysentery in honey bees and linked to spring losses in Scottish colonies.

Currently there are more than 17,000 pesticide products on the market in the U.S., and scientists say there is much that remains unknown about their impact on the environment, including the effect of combinations of compounds. While many credit the EPA with doing a good job at making sure pesticides are safer and safer for humans, they have a lot to answer for when it comes to honey bees.

Sources within the EPA tell us that agency scientists have been voicing concern over the neonicotinoids since they first came up for registration over 15 years ago with special concern raised over impact to honey bees. Our sources also told us, however, that scientists can't even suggest a connection between pesticides and colony losses for fear of being ostracized and excluded from meetings. With decisions being made by administrators, who are not necessarily scientists, sources say they don't even know themselves what goes into these ultimate decisions of what to approve for sale. And sources report that EPA scientists feel demoralized, when they work so hard to get risk assessments out that decision makers ultimately ignore.

Two systemic neonicotinoids, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, are widely used for residual control of several insect pests in cotton (Gossypium spp.), vegetables, and citrus (Citrus spp.). We evaluated their impact on six species of beneficial arthropods, including four parasitoid species—Aphytis melinus Debach, Gonatocerus ashmeadi Girault, Eretmocerus eremicus Rose & Zolnerowich, and Encarsia formosa Gahan—and two generalist predators—Geocoris punctipes (Say) and Orius insidiosus (Say)—in the laboratory by using a systemic uptake bioassay.

Wastewater treatment plants receive organic contaminants, such as pesticides, which reach the sewage system from domestic, industrial or agricultural activities. In wastewater, which is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds, biotic or abiotic degradation of contaminants can be affected by the presence of co-solutes. The photodecomposition in natural sunlight of two neonicotinoid insecticides, thiamethoxam and thiacloprid, was investigated in wastewater, aqueous extracts of sewage sludge and in aqueous surfactant solutions, which are abundant in wastewater. Dissipation in the dark was also studied in wastewater, due to reduction of transmitted sunlight in wastewater ponds.

The melancholy whistling of the yellow-bellied eastern meadowlark Sturnella magna had long been heard in hay fields and salt marshes throughout Massachusetts. The American kestrel Falco sparverius, the continent’s smallest falcon, thrived in local grasslands, hunting for grasshoppers, mice, and other prey in the state’s once-abundant farms. And the red-eyed eastern towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus long warbled in wooded areas while noisily raking the brush-covered grounds to forage for insects. Those birds as well as many others are disappearing from Boston to the Berkshires, according to a landmark report by Mass Audubon, which compiled decades worth of data about the state’s birds from thousands of scientists and trained birders.

Robbin Thorp of the University of California, Davis, has been tracking the critically imperiled Franklin's bumble bee (Bombus franklini) since 1998. Surveys for Franklin's bumble bee clearly show declining population. Sightings decreased from 94 in 1998 to 20 in 1999 to 9 in 2000 to one in 2001. Sightings increased slightly to 20 in 2002, but dropped to three in 2003. Thorp saw none in 2004 and 2005; one in 2006; and none since. "I am still hopeful that Franklin's bumble bee is still out there somewhere," said Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology. "Over the last 13 years I have watched the populations of this bumble bee decline precipitously. My hope is this species can recover before it is too late."

Several compelling lines of evidence suggest that environmental agents, including commonly used pesticides, can act as triggers for the development of Parkinson's Disease (PD). In fact, a progressively greater odds ratio for developing PD was associated with pesticide exposure, and several other epidemiological studies have implicated specific pesticides, including rotenone (an organic insecticide) and paraquat (a chemical herbicide still widely used throughout the world), in the development of parkinsonism.