Where have our friends the birds gone?

For year upon year up to the end of 2005 there were birds of some sort in the garden all year round. In the Spring and Summer I awoke with pleasure to their morning chorus and listened to their chatter as they settled down to sleep at night. During the day I often used to stop and enjoy watching them glide and soar or stop to feed. I also noted all the fledgling offspring of the sparrows, wrens, finches, blue tits, thrushes, blackbirds, starlings, doves and pigeons, and watched them grow rapidly to a state of independence. I got to know them all by sight and welcomed the regulars back the following year.

This year very few came back. There was just one type of the three different species of sparrow; some of the blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and pigeons; two doves and a deformed robin. There was no sign of the group of ten blue tits and none of a variety of finches or the wrens returned.

In July 06 all the birds cleared the area to include even the larger seagulls, pigeons and crows. A few came back several days later but left again and have never returned.

Since then I have woken to silence and see only the occasional pigeon or magpie or the briefest glimpse of a lone blackbird or thrush passing by.
Something of beauty and pleasure has been lost and I miss having the birds around me. My neighbourhood feels barren and sterile and is no longer the pleasant leafy suburb I once enjoyed so much.

What do I think is the cause of this?

I have been informing animal societies and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds that TETRA especially and probably also mobile phone masts are harming our wildlife/animals on and off since 2004. No one will listen until a balanced scientific decision is made, yet existing research into animal behaviour around these technologies is ignored or discredited.

Why have I come to this conclusion?

I am sensitive to this technology, but most specifically to TETRA. I feel it as pain to various parts of my body and do not need a smog detector or similar device.

Here are some extracts in letters or documents written at the time.

Referring to July 04 and written in August 05 to answer a letter in a local paper asking where all the birds had gone:

“Last July when TETRA testing was in progress for a few weeks, all of the smaller birds disappeared completely in a narrow swathe across Aldwick for about 3 days. (The power was very high as I felt it! The silence without the birds was eerie and unearthly)

Those birds which we had fed and watched in the garden also disappeared, including 3 orphaned thrush fledglings that had become so tame that they walked into our home to beg for sultanas.
Some of our original birds gradually returned after a month or so had passed, but they were all nervous, looked bedraggled and unsteady, and refused to eat. They just cowered under bushes looking very sorry for themselves.
Only one of our thrush fledglings came back at that time, and he would not come near us and never ever came into our home, or tapped the kitchen window, for sultanas again. A few months later, another of the orphans joined him, but the third was never seen again. We discovered several dead birds in the area at this time.

I suspect, but cannot confirm, that this was the start of the join up of the Isle of Wight TETRA masts to the newly discovered Felpham TETRA mast roughly two/three miles from here.

Recently the birds in our garden disappeared for about 3 days again, after a period of a few weeks or so of high powered TETRA, and some of them gradually came back, nervous and bedraggled. During this time I suffered severe disruption to sleep and pain in my head which I have not had since I protected my home against this technology. It stopped here about a week ago but we are still getting disruption to our TV signal.

I have noted that other forms of animal life and vegetation, are being affected, but the wildlife societies etc do not seem to want to listen - yet they ask us to monitor because some species are missing, or in short supply!”

July 2006 – excerpt from an entry to my log of events since Xmas 2002

“Last week my neighbour was out and about and chatting and laughing - we had a lull in the high power testing signals that sensitive people in the area were suffering with, including me. Then bang, all hell let loose over the weekend and all the birds disappeared, even the pigeons, magpies and jackdaws! The seagulls were screeching furiously and flying in circles as if a massive storm was imminent and then they cleared the area, too. The same was happening over Bognor with the seagulls but I have no info about the other birds from that area. I don’t care what the Government, Airwave, HPA, say – only TETRA causes that. That is the only time the birds clear the area suddenly and then slowly return a few days/weeks later all bedraggled and scared. There are 8 or 9 back of the birds who are regulars of 50+ birds we had last week to include the fledglings. No babies came with them.”

On the Tetrawatch website

http://www.tetrawatch.net/main/news.php

Spare a thought for all those people who suffer greatly when Airwave ‘adjustments’ take place. Make no mistake, they are to all intents and purposes being experimented upon. Adjustments in Aldwick, Bognor Regis, recently affected a number of people suddenly and badly. Neurotic? Then why did the birds depart (even the seagulls this time) for three days as well? Some people are still close enough to local wildlife to see these things and notice, but we expect Airwave folk lack the incentive, curiosity or initiative.

Other Notes

In 2005, jackdaws appeared in this area. Their usually nesting ground is several miles away across the harbour. They attacked a robin’s nest in 2006 and tore it to shreds. The baby robins fell to the ground and only one was saved. I used to live in the area where the jackdaws nested and never witnessed this sort of behaviour ever before. We also saw a woodpecker
which was dazed and disorientated. This is not woodpecker country.

Seven dead birds were found in July 06 in an elderly neighbour’s garden when my husband and I cut back overgrown bushes and trees for her.

Another strange occurrence in 2006 was that a duck family bred in a resident’s gardens and ruined the fish pond. Mother duck used to bring her fifteen ducklings to my garden to feed and if I had not provided food for them she would walk into my home to remind me, if the kitchen door was open. If it wasn’t she quacked incessantly until I came out.

Another female duck was also wandering around the parish with a few ducklings. Both families caused consternation as they crossed busier roads and stopped traffic.
We spotted another woodpecker of a different species which appeared to be very tired and hungry in late September 06.

At about 9am on Sunday November 19th 2006 there was further high powered testing of TETRA and huge flocks of seagulls, crows and pigeons were screeching and circling all across the area as if a storm of great magnitude was imminent. A few magpies joined them. I have never seen so many birds in the area, there were hundreds of them and the noise was deafening.
Just as quickly as they came, they all suddenly disappeared. I felt very ill that weekend and for a few days after. I later realised I had become even more sensitive.
I have had reports of similar incidents in other areas of the UK

We should be recording these incidents about all animal life and changes to vegetation, our environment etc so that the truth becomes known.

I am willing to undertake this for anyone who can provide the information. Please email me.

dances.alone@googlemail.com

NOTE: If you or someone you know is unwell or ill around TETRA or mobile phone masts and need advice, or just need to chat, there is an email link for you.

MastSicknessUK@aol.com