Keeping the birds away is not just cruel – it makes our lives poorer

Every year, I know when the season is about to change without even glancing at my calendar. That’s because, despite living 20 miles from the centre of London, I have regular annual visitors who predicts it perfectly.

As winter draws in, the peach-brown feathers of waxwings appear in the rowan trees, attracted by the abundance of berries which, at this time of year, become scant in their native Scandinavia. Just weeks ago, they were replaced by blue and white house martins, just arrived from North Africa and tropical Asia to nest in the eaves of my roof.

When I get up on a dreary morning and these feathered tourists begin to sing, everything suddenly feels a lot better. As countless studies show, just seeing and hearing nature boosts our mental health.

But now this natural and cost-effective remedy is at risk. A plague of thick netting has been silently spreading across Britain. Its purpose? To stop birds nesting. First hitting the headlines in March, when developers covered the trees on a plot in Chesterfield, it then spread to the rooftops of a Norwich Tesco, claiming to be protecting its trolley area, and was followed by shrubs in a Berkshire primary school and rows of hedges in North Wales.

But why? The answer is, as usual, money. It’s illegal to disturb nesting birds in Britain, so if developers find them on their land, it slows down work and dents profits. So they use a legal loophole of sorts, and stop nesting from happening by covering up any natural features that migrating birds may decide to call home.

Since the Fifties, we’ve lost enough hedgerows to circle the Earth four times over and we’ve destroyed 60 per cent of our wildlife, yet the Government remains hell-bent on granting development on brownfield land (with the green belt not far behind), as though outdoor space were a wasted resource we’re not using properly. But we are, as is our wildlife – and here, there is money to be made.

The birdwatching industry in Britain has been valued at £380 million. The RSPB boasts more than a million active members, and the annual Birdfair in Rutland, one of the world’s biggest, attracts in excess of 24,000 visitors. Over centuries, we British have hunted many native species to extinction, from wolves to wildcats, but we still enjoy the privilege of visits from these heart-lifting migrants, whose very presence creates jobs through tourism.

Campaigners and conservationists have created a Google map that lists all the sites where the nets have appeared, lobbying councils and developers and even removing some nets themselves. The online petition to outlaw the netting of hedgerows has amassed hundreds of thousands of signatures.

After viral tweets showing distressing film of trapped sand martins which had flown more than 3,500 miles from Saharan Africa to nest in the cliffs of north Norfolk, the council at Bacton agreed to remove some of the offending nets. The fact that a council in Norfolk, a county famed for and enriched by birdwatching, only acted after vociferous protests is simply mind-boggling.

Denying tired birds a place to rest and breed is barbaric. It’s time we remembered that we borrow the land, just as the birds do. Building houses may line the pockets of few, but without birdsong our homes and our very lives would be so much poorer.