How extreme flooding in Somerset has created birdlife winners and losers

Wet fields drive away rodents, leaving barn owls without much prey, but gulls of all kinds are attracted by the water The Somerset Levels flood regularly – but this year, after very heavy winter rains, the fields and moors are overflowing with water. So what effect does this have on wintering birds? Like most extreme weather events, there are winners and losers. Huge flocks of gulls are gathering in the flooded fields to feed, with scarcer Mediterranean and little gulls joining the regular black-headed, herring and common varieties. These have attracted a white-tailed eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project, although it does not appear to have caught any victims yet. Continue reading...

By Stephen Moss