british birds are on the verge of extinction due to intensive farming and use of herbicides and pesticides. This was stated in the Annual Breeding Bird Survey, compiled by the British Trust for Ornithology ( bto ), government advisers, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ( rspb ) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The survey states that that autumn planting of wheat and barley has deprived the birds of the stubble fields, which helped to sustain them through winters. The survey also indicates that modern pesticides have been so effective in removing weeds and insects in farmers' fields that many birds are being starved of their food supply, namely insects. But bto experts acknowledge that they