Giant Birds

I would, of course, normally leave ornithological matters to Nige. With his post Birdsong, he firmly established himself as the W.H.Hudson of the net and I well remember the disordered day when I saw ring ouzels in his company in the Pentland Hills. (Or it could have been the Himalayas, it was a very disordered day.) However, I have one urgent bird issue I must raise. Why are they getting bigger? Here in Norfolk I daily see buzzards, egret, heron and barn owls in the field behind our house. And, a few days ago, I stood, frozen in shock, as a cormorant suddenly leapt out of the river barely six feet from where I was standing. It gave me what used to be called an 'old-fashioned' look. England is a land of small birds but these are big bastards and they will soon outnumber the small ones. Even the wood pigeons seem to be suffering from an attack of giantism. We know that squirrels are preparing an assault on the human empire, but is is possible they are in alliance with the birds? I think we should be told.