BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND.....................................................................................BARN OWL COCKERSAND IAN MITCHELL

Friday, 20 September 2013

Armed And Dangerous.

A direct copy with no edits by me, this is an article by a top man in the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, he is a dangerous man with a dangerous mission if you are a Goshawk. The ignorance here is staggering, but he has many mates who will take note of what he has said and will act upon it with relentless persecution, not just of the Goshawk but other birds of prey and wildlife which they see as unacceptable pests to be eradicated.

Read on and make your own mind up about what you read. I have decided to keep any other comments I have about this dangerous crap too myself. 

'My local newspaper has just published an article on ringing chicks at a Goshawk nest on forestry commission ground. In the article, gamekeepers are criticised for persecuting Goshawks, without any attempts at providing proof, journalistic balance or an attempt to look at the history of the goshawk in Scotland. For the past 35 years I have lived with Goshawks on my doorstep. I strongly believe the Goshawk never was indigenous to the United Kingdom and there is absolutely no hard evidence to suggest otherwise. Those that illegally released this species into the British Isles could legitimately be charged, therefore, with a wildlife crime. These nests in the article are in commercial forestry where there is nothing whatsoever for the poor chicks to eat. What happens then? The young make their way out onto keepered ground, managed at significant cost and time to create a richness in biodiversity. Our local Red Squirrel population is now under severe threat and much of this can be put down to predation by the Goshawk. Most raptors will eat what they kill. The Goshawk will kill over and over again. The largest number of pheasant poults I lost on a stubble in one strike was 35. God knows what this could mean for our poor Curlews and Lapwings, teetering on the brink. Balance must surely be considered before we lose more precious species'.



Want to relax from all this rubbish....watch this 43 second video of Balearic Shearwaters passing Portland Bill yesterday 19 September. 

2 comments:

  1. This type of Garbage is often spouted by the thicko's of the shooting brigade Pete.

    Its a pity no one can write a piece that enlightens the unwary out there about the ignorance and propaganda of the shooting twats!

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  2. Unfortunately, I think that Warren has missed the point. Sadly, I don't believe that this article was written by a 'thicko', but by a highly intelligent, but selfish, person. It has been cleverly written in order to misinform the 'general public' who might not see through the lies in the article, and be swayed to sympathy with these monsters who would wreak suffering and destruction on such marvelous creatures as our raptors.

    Perhaps it's time to start organising anti-shooting observer camps rather like our friends in Malta are doing.

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