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NE doing their bit....

Printed From: Reptiles and Amphibians of the UK
Category: News
Forum Name: Latest News
Forum Description: articles & press releases
URL: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4558
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 2:48pm
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Topic: NE doing their bit....
Posted By: Wolfgang Wuster
Subject: NE doing their bit....
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 7:30pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/23/conservation-agency-approved-cull-endangered-birds" rel="nofollow - ... by authorising an endangered bird cull....

and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/23/government-licenced-buzzard-egg-destruction" rel="nofollow - .... authorising the destruction of native raptor nests to protect a damaging invasive species.

Thanks guys!

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Wolfgang Wüster

School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor

http://pages.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/



Replies:
Posted By: GemmaJF
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 8:00pm
Excellent work there by NE, as usual... Confused


Posted By: will
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 8:27pm
...because 35 million pheasants is never enough...


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 25 May 2013 at 8:38pm
I thought the RSPB came down in favour of keepered estates being best for birds a few years ago.
Killing rarer gulls and buzzards doesn't seem right, although are buzzards endangered now?
I know it's an argument often trotted out, but if estates can't be self supporting/make an income then what will happen? Pheasant shoots and grouse shoots provide incomes and employment and help preserve a landscape and countryside that a lot of us recognise and love to tramp over. Heather moors are great for adders, how would it be if that all went because of lack of management for grouse/introduction of lots of grazing animals?



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Suz


Posted By: will
Date Posted: 25 May 2013 at 9:53pm
I think it's got to be a question of balance, Suzy; 35 million pheasants is just too much - approximately one buzzard per thousand pheasants, I think.  I know several sites where pheasants have eliminated the adders and decimated the grass snakes and slowworms.  If the only reason why scrub and open woodland are maintained in the UK is to allow a tiny minority to shoot a single non-native invasive species, then there's something very wrong with our nature conservation priorities, I reckon...


Posted By: Wolfgang Wuster
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 8:00am
And let's not forget the fact that buzzards are a fairly minor source of mortality for pheasants anyway....

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Wolfgang Wüster

School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor

http://pages.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/



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