Why so few kinds of birds on the Stray?

Comment from Andrew Hart to my last post about grass cutting:

"Toni, I have a feeling that the "long areas" of grass will all disappear in the next few days! I hope I am wrong as in selected parts of the Stray they would add so much to the insect and small mammal habitat. I wish too we could see nesting boxes in place for birds, Tree Bumble Bees and Owls"

 Birds are good indicators of the health of an ecosystem. On the Stray there are fewer kinds of birds than you might expect in a lovely green area surrounded by suburban gardens - I mean birds that you can see commonly, not the occasional exciting visitor. Black headed gulls are always there (the one below is in its summer plumage - in winter they look a bit scruffier), and an occasional herring gull. Various corvids - magpies, rooks, crows, jackdaws. I've never seen a jay. Lots of blackbirds. This morning there were two mistle thrushes, though I've never seen or heard a song thrush (they're always singing in the Valley Gardens). Pigeons, obviously. Starlings, swallows. I haven't seen house martins. Kites are here increasingly often, which is great, and a very occasional green woodpecker. And I've seen sparrow hawks a couple of times. I'm sure there are more, but still not an amazing variety.

(not my photograph - provided by the internet - but a very good one. You can see clearly that they should be called brown-headed gulls, not black-headed!)

The Stray is not a great area for small birds, who tend to hang around in the gardens. I think it's too open and they're too exposed to predators. 

Have a look at the comment from the Pinewoods in response to my last post, Grass cutting time. It's very interesting, and very balanced.

There is an issue about how closely and how often the grass is cut. Leaving some areas uncut for quite a lot of the time is great for wildlife and I think it looks very attractive.

Of course, not everyone feels the same way!