MODERN farming practices are driving Herefordshire's birds into urban areas and could result in a population dependent on humans for their survival, according to a concerned group of bird lovers in the county.

They say: "Our over-productive farming practices are making the rural environment more hostile to birds and other forms of wildlife.

"Somehow we have to get back to a nature-friendly farming system."

The hard hitting comments come in an editorial of Herefordshire Ornithological Society's monthly bulletin.

It adds: "Birds enrich the urban environment, bringing colour, movement and interest right up to our doors. We can now see and become familiar with species such as the Nuthatch and Siskin.

"However, there may well be a darker side to these changes. There are some species which cannot realistically move to an urban environment, such as Curlew and Corn Bunting. This type of bird favours large open fields and while such areas are becoming more common with modern farming practices they are also actively hostile to birds and to the insects which often form the basis of their, or their young's diet during the breeding season.

"Birds that move into urban areas in response to the difficulties and dangers of country living may well find dangers from overcrowding, disease and increasing reliance on foodstuffs which are provided for them, instead of being grown locally or hunted in the ways that birds have evolved over thousands of years to rely upon."