Starling numbers appear to have halved in Brighton and Hove since the council started using glyphosate weedkiller again although it is not possible to say whether the two changes are linked.
Save Our Starlings campaigner Steve Geliot believes that up 150,000 starlings could be seen in the area when he first moved here in 1981.
He started using bursts of high-definition photography and video to count the birds from 2022, with the numbers having dropped to just over 8,000.
The went up to almost 19,000 last year, after a pause in glyphosate use. But this year the count dropped to just over 9,000, with a low of 4,419 birds on Tuesday 25 February.
In 2022, Mr Geliot organised a petition, with 110,000 signatures, calling for a ban on pesticides and artificial fertilisers on Brighton and Hove City Council’s downland estate.
The council had already stopped using glyphosate weedkiller on pavements, kerbs and gutters but critics accused the council of rewilding the streets, creating slip and trip hazards.
It has since started using the weedkiller again, trialling a “controlled droplet” technique to apply the herbicide to foliage.
Mr Geliot said that he was concerned that the council was planning another year of glyphosate use.
He said: “We will never know how much harm this potent ‘controlled droplet’ formulation did to our starlings. It may be not much. It may be a lot.
“What I can say is that it was an unhelpful added pressure in the context of unfavourable weather during the breeding season. We didn’t need to do it to them. Why on earth are the council choosing to do it again?”
He is urging the council and people with gardens to encourage insects with wild flower meadows and wild verges, installing nest boxes and reducing light pollution.
And he said that another concern was the increasing number of artificial sports pitches, reducing the green space that provided food for insects and birds.
Mr Geliot added: “Despite the reduced numbers, the murmuration has been truly inspirational these last weeks.
“And as the starlings shift into breeding mode, with their bright yellow beaks at this time of year, let’s wish them luck and see if we can help them recover over the next 12 months by being more neighbourly.”
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, the council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said that the starling population was a source of pride for Brighton and Hove.
Councillor Rowkins said: “As a council, we are committed to protecting local biodiversity and wildlife populations. Indeed, we were among one of the first councils in the UK to insist on bee-bricks and swift-boxes in new developments.
“We have firm expectations on conservation in our planning guidance and require developments to provide a net gain in terms of biodiversity.
“We are also engaged in landscape-scale nature recovery on our downland estate, which constitutes 44 per cent of the city’s footprint, as well as developing a local nature recovery strategy with colleagues from across East Sussex.
“In terms of glyphosate use, we are aware of people’s concerns over its impact on the environment and local wildlife which is why we use a targeted method of application that not only greatly reduces the amount needed but restricts it to troublesome weed growth only.
“We’ve also introduced an opt-out scheme for this summer and confirmed 72 additional roads where it will not be used and are committed to further reduction.
“Most councils across the country still use glyphosate and, while we recognise people’s concerns, we do have a responsibility to keep our pavements clear and accessible for all residents.”
Glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. Glyphosate has been proved to cause harm to bees and their death. Insect numbers in the UK is a downward spiral. Insects such as bumblebees are in trouble in the UK. They are all part of the army of insects that pollinate much of the fruit and vegetables we eat.
Across Britain councils are listening to the concern of their residents. Over 100 local authorities across the UK have already either ended their use of pesticides/herbicides or taken significant steps towards doing so. From Westminster to Newcastle, Devon to Renfrewshire, the progress made by these councils is hugely significant and demonstrates that there is a strong desire amongst residents and within local government to reduce chemical exposure and protect the environment from harmful toxins. I do not wish for Glyphosate, in whatever form, to be used in ANY vegetated areas within or surrounding area of Brighton and Hove. There are benign ways of dealing with invasive plants. Herbicides are not the way forward, in fact it is regressive and ignorant of the science.
Thanks for all the standard scaremongering misinformation we’ve seen from activist groups such as Brighton based Pesticide Action Network UK, but WTF had this got to do with starlings number?
Yes – Glyphosate is a toxin – otherwise it would not kill plants 🙄
Facts: “standard scaremongering misinformation ”
We are not plants so it’s toxicity to plants it not a part of the deduction that it’s toxic to humans, or other animals in the food chain for starlings.
Starlings will eat lots of insects, accumulating the toxic substance. It’s not that difficult but you don’t know what you don’t know.
“Starlings are known to eat insects, particularly during the breeding season”. So, if this coincides with the council spraying glyphosate, then this could impact breeding and/or the health of the offspring. It’s not a conspiracy. Right wing media is sold out to pesticide manufactures that’s not even a conspiracy thats also bare facts
Our starlings and wonderful murmurations have been in a perilous for some time – hence the petition. If Cllr Rowkins claims to support biodiversity by introducing bee boxes, and then reintroduces toxins that kills them off, he clearly isn’t thinking things through. Does he even think at all?
What a load of tosh! This is about as scientific as claiming the numbers have diminished since the last full moon.
Don’t give these crackpots the column space to broadcast their unfounded nonsense.
So starling numbers in Brighton have plummeted since people stopped listening to cassettes and records. There you have it. It was definitely the introduction of the CD that is to blame.
As a respected news site your headline is surprising and misleading as it makes it sound like the decline in starlings is fact.
You have used data provided by one enthusiastic individual who has strong views on glyphosphate.
Let’s see statistics from reputable wildlife organisations like the RSPB who can provide some context over this issue.
Journalists should be questioning the data they receive rather than repeating it verbatim – or at least wrap the claim in quote marks so that we can see it is opinion rather than fact.
So this is taken from the RSPB website: “this species is Red-listed in the UK as a bird of high conservation concern due to their declining numbers. Since 1995, Starling populations have plummeted by 54% in the UK.”
Does that help to set the context for you?
How is that relevant to this article? It’s a statement about a different area and a different time period
Hi Matt,
I’d be happy to share my methods and data with you, or you can check it out at the Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre. The decline is a fact I’m afraid. The method is not perfect but it is the most thorough count anyone has done. The link to glyphosate, as I said, is impossible to measure – we will never know, and weather has been the main factor this year in my opinion – again not fantastically scientific, just an opinion.
Glyphosate attacks the enzymes in plants, not in animals so this is rubbish.
Glyphosate is in fact toxic to mammals including humans it takes just over a teaspoon full to kill an average adult human weighing 86 Kg. Imagine how little is needed to kill a baby bird weighing about 10 g. That is just the immediate toxicity. Additionally the WHO cancer research institute tests showed that applying undiluted glyphosate to the skin of mammals caused rare tumours. The controlled droplet formulation is very strong – effectively undiluted. I am most worried about the contractors who are not wearing gloves and residents who are weeding without gloves. We need to see some proper professional risk assessment.
Shameless scaremongering, worthy of Pravda !
Fact: starling numbers have plummeted, just one species in our overall continuing nature decline. Fact: glyphosate is a weedkiller, but has serious adverse side-effects to animals, including human health.
Local starlings spend their time both within our urban city & on our Brighton Downs. Glyphosate is used to kill plants in our pavements etc & extensively by farmers – a double hit on starlings. The council needs to urgently find less toxic solutions to urban weeds – where they are a problem (as has been done for years in other cities, eg Arnhem, in the last century did this, following serious health scares). It also needs to pick up the momentum on “nature recovery on our downland estate”, after too many years of damaging agri- policy that has led to our declining wildlife.
Keep using it.
I’d suggest this is completely untrue, or at best an unreliable way to count birds..
I photograph the starlings every year and this last week there has been a huge display, as big as ever.
It’s key to know that the numbers vary every day, and with the weather, plus the starlings haven”t always been solely at the Palace Pier.
Indeed if you watch them assemble each evening you’ll know they fly in, in smaller flocks from all over, to join up with the one big murmuration at dusk – but the numbers of those smaller flocks varies.
You may still see a murmuration over the West Pier but that is no longer their favoured overnight habitat.
There is however a regular murmuration over the Marina, which first happened when they built the taller flats there.
So you’d need more than one camera to measure the bird population, and you’d also have to record several locations each evening, and over the whole season, to get any true picture of the bird numbers.
With that data collected you’d then have to look at several environmental factors that might affect the numbers, rather than guiltily focussing on just the one.
I would be happy to share my data and methods Billy. Nobody has been as consistent and thorough as I have.
Correlation doesn’t equal causation, comes to mind?
I blame the i-sore for disturbing the birdies
And the new Beryl bikes,, bike lanes, Albion hotel fire, VG3, the greens, Putin, Trump. Global Warming, drive through McDonald’s,,school catchment changes and other stuff
I’ve noticed the decline in starling numbers also correlates with the increase in Teslas on the road….. gotta be musk’s fault. 😃
Just want to clarify that what I actually said was although this was a big drop year on year, the main factor has been weather. Good weather in Sussex in 2023 meant there was a good breeding season. Very cold weather in Europe the following winter brought over a good few thousand migrant Starlings from Europe, so we saw an unusually good year 2023/24. Then last year we had terrible weather – for insects and therefore for birds such as Starlings which eat insects. I did also say that I think we will never know how much impact the glyphosate did or didn’t have. Nothing unscientific about that. I do think it would be unhelpful, because of contaminated insects, but I have no idea how to measure that. It’s worth reading the whole piece because it makes that clearer. I also want to recognise that Cllr Rowkins taking 72 streets out of the treatment programme is a good and welcome thing, and should be applauded. In terms of supporting our local Starlings, the biggest positive impact can be made by doing things across the city and on the downland estate which support insect life and biodiversity in general. That will support a whole range of species which are perhaps less visible than our beloved Starlings.
Be warned, there are some right numptys in the comments
Somebody needs to learn the difference between correlation and causation.
somebody needs to read the article
I was trying to think why articles like this annoy me so much.
The first problem here is the tabloid headline, which draws a conclusion which the article itself does not.
The second issue I have here is the poor science where we observe one thing or change, and then guess the causes of that change.
And the third issue here is where we talk about a natural phenomenon we all love – the Starlings’ murmurations – and then we link their survival with another issue we feel guilty about, faking a cause-and-effect between the two emotive issues. Right wing people do the same when they automatically link immigration issues with boats crossing the Channel. One truth is not the whole truth.
This reminds me of the Greens lies about the Old Shoreham Road, and how a cycle lane was needed for the safety of children. They put in the cycle lane and then no one used it – probably because the route is just too hilly compared to the easier option nearby – and then the cycle lobbyists tried every trick in the book to prove otherwise. The result of that deception was that trust in what was said was soon gone, and that is what will happen here if you use these simplistic and unverifiable connections. You lose the goodwill and support you had.
The footnote to these opinions is that, as an allotment holder, I will never use Glyphosate or any other chemical weed killer. But nor will I let the weeds outside our house get out of control. if you want to help the environment then do something positive in your own way – even if that’s just planting some insect-friendly shrubs and flowers. Better still, lobby to stop the water companies dumping sewage into our rivers.
Creating a fake drama via the internet never solved anything, and I’ve just wasted more time in writing this.
Another three starlings have died in the time it took me to read your comment. It must be you, you murderer!
“cycle lobbyists” 😂
Glad you don’t use Glyphosate Billy, and I don’t disagree with what you say about the wording of the headline. It was a bit unfortunate from my perspective. On the other hand headlines sell newspapers and get people talking, which isn’t such a bad thing in itself. The good thing about doing the count over several years is that you can start to make more reasonable inferences from the data, and ultimately see clear trends emerge. One year on its own doesn’t do that. Be nice if you gave me a bit more credit for my efforts Billy.
Way back in late 1980s, every Spring would bring a flock of Swifts flying around apparently over and near to Hollingdean valley but could in reality be a little further away. Reason is probably that there were a large number of pigs in the farmers field at the North end of Stanmer village, creating smells and attracting insects. Direct distance Stanmer village to top of Hollingdean valley is not that far as the crow (or swift) flies.
After a few years, they decreased in numbers and suddenly one year disappeared altogether, never to reappear.
Wonder what happened?
Other factors are in play, when i did the RSPB bird watch in January sparrow numbers were much higher than last year , sparrows tend to stay around the area so you would expect numbers to fall if weed killer was to blame. Perhaps with just one pier now that could also cause a decline and starlings have moved away.
Not sure what part of “poison is poison” people here don’t get..
Honestly this is ridiculous, Starling numbers have fallen for years but a reintroduction of street weedkiller caused it last year? Why not claim the large explosion of vaping is driving the Starlings away? The best 2 + 2 = 5 article of the year so far this year.
You obviously haven’t read the piece. Just for the avoidance of doubt and further misunderstanding: Glyphosate did not kill 10000 Starlings in Brighton.
The shame of it is that if the person who wrote the headline had put “as” instead of “since” all of the idiots above who deny the bleedin’ obvious about the destructiveness of glyphosate, would have probably shut up.
A pesticide like like glyphosate is clearly not needed as evidenced by the thousands of towns across Europe that have now been synthetic pesticide free for years – including France’s largest cities – Paris, Grenoble, Nantes, Lille and more which have been synthetic pesticide free since 2017. If a major capital city like Paris can get along just fine without spraying toxic chemicals (which – and I can’t believe this needs spelling out for so many in the comments – are obviously toxic to any wildlife) then there really is no excuse for Brighton.