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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Purple Heron" data-source="post: 3594808" data-attributes="member: 143142">To Mick:I am trying to get more data.  I do know that my own observations alone are not enough--though what I have seen on Samos is truly alarming, and this prompted the trip north.  I did write to Birdlife, RSPB  and other birding organizations, in some cases several times, but no one replied.  I also looked at the garden birdwatch data but there are many factors to be considered and the way the data is broken down is not helpful.  I do know that most of England is still 3G (I've looked at maps of wireless distribution and the Telegraph moans about it all the time).On Samos, I think it is possible to exclude other factors besides wireless/EMR as the cause for bird population declines.  I have lived here a long time and know the area extremely well.  So I can rule out such things as pesticide use, extreme climate variation, habitat change etc. for the area under discussion.  A lot of the birds that have disappeared are resident, so are not affected by problems in the places they migrate from/to.  And I have to say I didn't see significant changes in northern Greece since our last trip (except cell towers) though I do realise I'm on less firm ground here.Another thing I have noticed is that not all birds disappear at the same rate.  And of course they don't all suddenly vanish at once--it took a couple of years before I realised how very much had disappeared, because I kept seeing fewer and fewer birds but thinking I was just having a bad day, or whatever.  It is a lot harder to spot a lack of something than the presence of something.  But I do think there are certain trends here: small birds disappear first, but some species seem more vulnerable than others.  Tits, for instance, hang on longer than warblers or chaffinches--I have no idea why, but they do--especially great tits, and blackbirds.  The crow family seems especially resilient.  We have more jays and crows now than we did, and the crows are becoming real pests in some areas, where they have replaced other bird populations.So--there is a lot I don't know, but I do have reasons for concluding that EMR is affecting bird populations in Greece.  I don't think I'm a conspiracy theorist but I know there is an awful lot of money tied up in telecommunications and the whole of future development, just about, seems to depend on wireless networks--from smart appliances to the Internet of Things, driverless cars and so on.  So nobody is going to be very happy if it turns out that wireless technology is harmful to people, birds, whatever.  And birds are pretty far down anybody's list: most people don't notice birds.Am I leaping to conclusions?  Let me put it this way.  I'm very alarmed, and the technology is proceeding a lot faster than any scientist can prove it is or isn't dangerous.  The precautionary principle would indicate that we need to know for sure before we keep upgrading wireless networks, but that is not what is happening.  A lot of researchers believe that wireless IS dangerous.  So do a great many doctors.  Yet we've gone and installed 4G and before long we're going to upgrade to 5G--by 2020, by some estimates.  I think this is premature.  You can't say "More research needs to be done" and then not allow time for it to be done.  That can lead to immense and irreversible damage, and that's why I'm so worried.  I am sharing my concerns because I am so worried.  I want people to think about this.  Some people will undoubtedly dismiss it out of hand.  Some, I hope, won't, and will do their own research and observations.   I hope they will share them with me.</blockquote>

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