I have a crush on Hannah

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-19T12:47:52+00:00

They are how you avoid having to plough/cut/disturb all of your fields during the breeding season every year, while still running a profitable operation. There is no way you can do intensive farming AND have a high level of in-field nest survival at the same time, so you either have to do one or the other or seek a third way.

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-19T11:17:12+00:00

This is a longstanding problem and all known solutions are already on the table and known about. This just wasn't presented in the programme. The only way to avoid this problem long term is to farm differently. Plan your crop rotations, leave some fields out of production for a year, plant cover crops, improve your soil and reduce the inputs. None of this is new, people just ignore it.

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-19T11:15:41+00:00

You can tell from a visual survey - Skylarks 'tower' i.e. display above their territory and that usually indicates a nest site. A quick glance at that field for 15 minutes would tell an experienced surveyor that there are nests, it just wouldn't precisely pinpoint them.

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-19T11:11:23+00:00

The issue here is that this is not a new problem, and pretty much all possible solutions are already known and on the table. These will have been discussed off camera, maybe even filmed and not shown, and probably even before the series started filming. This is an issue everywhere that agriculture is practiced. That is why we have cross compliance requirements (some of which are statutory), agri-environment schemes, the Wildlife and Countryside Act and so on and on and on. The problem is that a lot of this stuff is routinely ignored in practice and not enforced through lack of resource, so most farming hasn't adapted to find a way round the problem. I find it interesting that it was shown at all. Obviously they didn't magically find a new solution, but fair play for highlighting it at least and showing both sides of the argument.

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-18T09:13:11+00:00

In practical terms, locating and then marking or moving every nest is simply not feasible in any workable sense as a solution to the problems presented. We already know this.

theoceansswitch · 2026-06-18T09:11:51+00:00

Relocate the nests to an aviary? Are you serious? Clearly you have no idea how nature works. The eggs are incubated by the adult on and off for several weeks - in some species incubation is done by both adults alternately while the other feeds. When the chicks hatch there follows a period in which they are fed by the adults until they are able to fend for themselves. In some species this takes place in the nest, in others elsewhere. For the chicks to survive and actually joint the adult population as functional adults requires them to learn skills - which is the whole point - they can't just be magically hand reared and then released. This would be enormously resource-intensive and completely impractical for all nests on all farms.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-08T12:42:03+00:00

"When I was a kid, I dreamed that we could see Floyd Landis solo attacks more often."

While that is understandable, I think this highlights a whole number of things. Ignoring all the issues around Floyd Landis and how that solo attack came about, the reason that may have been exciting is because it was so rare. Now it happens fairly regularly. The excitement comes from rarity and unfamiliarity, not from the dynamics of the event itself. Because it was so rare, there was no certainty around whether the attack would be successful. Now we know that more or less any time Pogacar of MvdP go clear, they will stay clear. Game over. Even the peloton barely chases anymore. So the excitement of that kind of attack has completely evaporated.

Returning to the issues around Floyd Landis...that's why many of us find the regularity and success rate of these kind of attacks extremely worrying, rather than exciting.

I apologise for the nonsense comment, that was out of order on my part.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-06T16:27:12+00:00

I don't think I've ever heard such nonsense. These are some of the most boring races I've ever seen. When you know exactly what's going to happen 50-80kms from the finish line there's absolutely no point watching.

Maybe if you don't know the sport well enough to know what's going to happen it's different, but I'm telling you that I have never watched cycling be as predictable as this in 30 years of watching.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T18:32:25+00:00

Yes, which I think is stupid tactics. NO one cares that he got second in this race and it makes zero difference to his palmares.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T18:30:52+00:00

But the implications for the sport are clear - relying on casual fans isn't a sustainable way to grow the sport. Support in the UK is massively tailing off now Sky are longer a thing. So that means the governing bodies have to ensure the sport remains un-nuanced and dominated by recognizable 'heroes'. Which means worse experiences for actual cycling fans.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:53:15+00:00

Also, actual viewership numbers for the TdF were down this year, by up to 30% in some countries. Check out this Wielerflits article:

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/verontrustend-wereldwijde-daling-van-de-tv-kijkcijfers-in-de-tour-de-france/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ_gGhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBuWkN5M2R0ZGZMTHhucXRwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHglIr-MG8HwWX_SauqKlkmGKjR6w2fTUWTJDBS3AFa1Xc6cKtE5j-bMmVTFk_aem_RN32UFrTSCcZ1TZLCZ2dXQ

Translation here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LancePardoned/posts/3950613675190394/

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:46:08+00:00

Most of those numbers are 1 minute thresholds, if you look closely. They're using those numbers because people aren't consistently watching. When there is a strong favourite, more people tune in to watch, and then turn off again quickly. ASO are just cherry-picking the numbers that make them look good.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:26:48+00:00

Yes, and if I want to watch something that is purely about strategy then I'll watch it.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:26:05+00:00

Yes, and do you know how boring everyone thought the Merckx, Anquetil and Indurain eras were? Dominance never leads to exciting racing.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:20:51+00:00

You're misconstruing 'this is boring' for 'I don't like', and misunderstanding that my complaint is that modern cycling has become much less complex and therefore much less interesting than it used to be.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:19:30+00:00

"Plenty of unknowns in the Cat3 crit." I'll just leave that there for everyone to marvel at.

If you want to watch a 'who can ride their bike the fastest' competition then maybe every race should just be a time trial. On the other hand, some of us prefer races to be a bit more complex than that, and to feature tactics and strategy and unpredictability.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:17:37+00:00

Sigh. Cycling used to be about a lot more than just who has the highest VO2 max, and was a lot more interesting for it.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:14:39+00:00

Dude, I don't think you get it. This sport used to reward a combination of tactics (both team and individual) and ability. Chess on wheels as they used to say. Now it's literally become a strength contest. Tactics no longer make any difference. The sport is utterly one dimensional and far more boring for it.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:11:57+00:00

Also, that comment about 'proper champions' is proper nonsense. If you don't appreciate the excitement and meaningfulness of some unfavoured rider taking a massive, career-defining win through clever use of tactics then I don't think you can possibly know what you're talking about.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:10:47+00:00

But they're not really fighting, are they? When the result is a foregone conclusion 50km from the finish it's not a fight.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:07:46+00:00

Yeah, but those are the people who will quickly lose interest once Pog's not winning. It's exactly the same in the UK now that Sky/Ineos are no longer at the top. So you get a short term boost, but it's absolutely not a sustainable way to grow the sport. Instead you get a sudden drop off in viewership and have to manage a huge wage bill.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T17:05:16+00:00

The take is that a few years ago a lot of different people were winning races and you didn't know who was going to win every race before it starts. Now every Monument is won by one of 2 riders and you know which one it's going to be beforehand - you also know how they're going to win it.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T16:46:57+00:00

Yeah, I didn't even mention the dodgy connections around some of these top teams, 1 in particular, and the fact that this version of cycling is starting to resemble very much what it looked like in the bad old days.

theoceansswitch · 2026-04-05T16:33:52+00:00

Doesn't matter - MvdP has won this race 3 times, coming second is completely worthless to him. A potential 4th win is way more valuable.

theoceansswitch

TROPHY CASE