[Birdnuts]

Originally Posted by swifts need our help!

At work today, I'm a till operator at ASDA, a shooter came in. He was wearing his shooting club fleece. I started chatting to him about this and that and came to birds of prey. He shoots pheasants.

Birds of prey need controlled he said. They eat my pheasants! I was getting angry. Crows need controlled he said and also said without any prompting eagles shouldnt be introduced. They arent native, the eat sheep and lambs.

I said I can't continue with this condervation

Mark

You get a certain number of ignorant gombeens in every sector of society, whether it be farming, politics, sport etc. - thankfully most hunters/shooters do not have such a backward Victorian view of raptors and are well informed about our native wildlife and their habits. BASC(British Association for Shooting and Conservation) studies have shown that only 1-2% of pen reared pheasants are lost to raptors(mainly sparrowhawks). Tiny compared to losses from foxes, disease, bad weather, road casualties etc. I remember reading a BTO study that showed for every 11.5metres of paved road in the UK, one pheasant is killed by traffic every year!!.

PS: Sorry for going off topic mods but some important points needed clarifying there since I think the thread should not run the risk of tarring any particular sector with the one brush.

[swifts need our help!]

Originally Posted by swifts need our help!

I said I can't continue with this conversation

Oops terrible but apt spelling mistake. I wrote with a typo conservation when I meant conversation

[LostCovey]

Originally Posted by dodderangler

Their gettin shot poisoned etc and ya's all want to help stop it here's a hint
Don't tell the whole world were the nest is you have no idea what type of people are on this site
That's like catching a few salmon and then postin where they were caught (lambs to the slaughter)
SO use the head and don't be postin where they are pm someone that's a bird watcher the location if you trust them but not in full view of everyone

If you saw the site you would understand.

It would be like trying to keep a breeding attempt in the Phoenix Park secret.

Publicity was the best chance, and from the eagles' point of view nothing changed (maybe a bit more activity on a pier a km away, bit less boat activity close to the island - I really don't believe they would have noticed either)

The GET made a perfect call in my book.

[Desmo]

Originally Posted by LostCovey

If you saw the site you would understand.

It would be like trying to keep a breeding attempt in the Phoenix Park secret.

Publicity was the best chance, and from the eagles' point of view nothing changed (maybe a bit more activity on a pier a km away, bit less boat activity close to the island - I really don't believe they would have noticed either)

The GET made a perfect call in my book.

In Scotland, they fly and nest close to human habitation in some areas. I saw one fly past a window of a holiday cottage; I was inside and it flew past about 30M away.