Killing Little Birds

[Biccylova]

Why does everyone seem to think birds of prey are wonderful? with the increase of the killers there is a decline in small garden birds. I know this as my oh and I watch them every day, we don't have nearly as many finches robins and tits as we used to get in the garden. magpies, jackdaws and rooks also are out of control since gamekeepers and farmers are not shooting them. I suppose the only way they will be reduced is when they run out of food and eat each other. I think the only way to keep some of each type is to control the killers.

[shoota]

I'm with you Biccy. Corvids are the Nazis of the bird world.

[retrocop]

Odd that dogs can be trained to stop chasing sheep etc but can you train a cat to stop chasing and wantonly killing birds for the hell of it.?
How come any dog I have owned has never snagged his collar or 'accidentally' lost it?

[Togo]

The reality......not the Disneyland cuddly version.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6965469/The-savage-cruelty-law-lets-crows-torture-kill-sheep-writes-SUE-REID.html

[melv16]

Biccylova. At the last census by the BTO, there were about 190,000 breeding pairs of sparrowhawks in the UK. Contrast that with over 9 million cats.
As a birdwatcher, I think the controls on pest species shouldn't have been lifted. Research on keepered land has shown that it benefits song bird populations.
However, birds of prey populations have plummeted, especially over grouse moors, take hen harriers for example. Golden eagles are struggling in Scotland, peregrines and goshawks are nearly extinct in the Dark Peak. There is no coincidence that these areas are heavily keepered shooting estates.

[Old_Geezer]

Nature needs a balance of prey & predator. Otherwise things get messy. Birds of prey are, have to be, as wonderful a part of nature as smaller birds that prey on other things.

[Old_Geezer]

"As are cats they are hunters too"
Wild ones need to hunt. But one can't really compare wild birds of prey to domesticated cats. Domesticated ones have food on a plate.

[melv16]

Domesticated cats near me have food on a plate but they still hunt wild birds.

[Togo]

This will give you a little more information Biccy. Not the Beep Beep See version of events either. Beware of the comments that follow the article.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/26/greenie-packham-***-up-the-country-again/

[Ryzen]

Well done Natural England...the lambing season in full swing..Corvids love lambs eyes!!!

[Togo]

Our oh so green packham does love to swan about(geddit) in his V8 Aston Martin mind. Hypocrite. Another syndrome on legs setting the agenda for people of rational thought.