Generally, I agree with your statement about shooting or poisoning birds of prey, many of which can be rare (like harriers and peregrines) and most of which are not present in numbers that cause little problem to anyone. I'm fully supportive of all efforts to prosecute those that kill birds of prey on grouse moors etc, and that perhaps there should be a compensation scheme for moor owners to allow for loss of stock. However, any bird that overpopulates an area causing nuisance should be capable of being legally culled in my view. As far as herons are concerned, they are bred in great numbers in West Sussex. They can wipe out wildlife in large areas killing not only fish, but grass snakes, slow worms, frogs, newts etc. There is a direct correlation imo between the number of herons and the loss of reptiles and amphibians. For me, herons are part of the living world but their numbers need to be kept in check. And the powerful bird lobby needs to remember that wildlife exists outside animals that fly, and sometimes that needs protection too.
There has been a rise in Little Egrets, which are a member of the Heron family. Grey Herons are protected. I wasn't aware of any correlation between Heron numbers and a decline in reptiles and amphibians. There's definitely a correlation between loss of habitat and a decline in many species. Do you have a link concerning Herons or other birds in the Heron family affecting other wildlife? Oh and the hunting lobby, like grouse shooting etc, is far more powerful than any bird lobby and accounts for the illegal killing of birds of prey numbering many hundreds every year.
Yes, fully supportive of the bird lobby in its protection against birds of prey on the grouse moors. There aren't enough predatory birds to be a real problem, so gamekeepers and their ilk are shooting and poisoning often rare birds for a small commercial game. The son of a friend of mine works for the RSPB in Yorkshire, and dedicates himself full on to catching and prosecuting offenders. As far as the heron is concerned, if you google "heron eats snake" you'll be confronted by many pictures of heron's eating grassnakes and other water dwelling snakes in other countries. It's my experience that herons will kill and eat anything that moves around them. They are magnificent birds in flight, and no one begrudges the odd meal to a passing heron. But when you have two to three herons that spend every hour of daylight , every day, plundering wildlife in a small valley, it becomes frustrating. I've been trying to increase the population of the grassnakes around us, which are in dwindling numbers, by increasing frog numbers. At spawning time, the herons come in and gorge on the pregnant female frogs. I do know people round here do get frustrated, whether it be for reptiles or fish. I think most that are concerned with the heron increase just want to keep nature in balance, and that goes out of kilter when well meaning people in local towns encourage huge heronries. "The more herons the better" comes at a cost to other wildlife.
On a gentle jog around the park and by the river I’ve seen the following: - goldfinches - a robin - magpies - blackbirds - brown blackbird sized things which I think are thrushes - brown birds bigger than a blackbird but smaller than a crow - crows - swans - loads of them - geese - ducks - a heron standing on its own in the middle of a field - ****ing pigeons - a parakeet plus rabbits and squirrels. All within a five minute walk of the town centre. Rather nice.
Brilliant. Goldfinches are a good spot, as are Thrushes in some areas. The larger than a blackbird, but smaller than a crow is intriguing. Couldn't be another Thrush? Not a bird of prey?
Missed off sparrows and what was either a tiny sparrow or a wren (very short tail). I’m going to do some research into the mystery bird, definitely not a bird of prey. They hang out over the fields and roads half a mile out of town. The goldfinches were right outside my back door, they kicked the brief twitcher fashion off as I wasn’t sure what they were, had to look them up. Very pretty creature.
Yeah, Goldfinches are lovely. As for the mystery birds....double check colour, type of flight, numbers etc.
OK mystery bird (and I suspect the one I thought was a thrush) is nothing more mysterious than a female blackbird, which until now I didn’t know aren’t black at all. They were hanging out with the black blackbirds so makes sense.
Are sparrows making a comeback? I've been surprised to see quite a few round here recently after not having seen any for quite a while. We get daily sightings of red kites around here now - magnificent birds. Also fun to see muntjac deer in the woods nearby when out with the dog. Had one in our front garden once.
Our studio is just down from Arne (site of BBC’s Springwatch on now) and it’s amazing to see the variety of birds along our Dorset coastline - many I never knew were around here. We are in an old military site referenced in the programme last night and have a wonderfully rich wildlife here set in the countryside with chaffinch, nuthatch, wren, wagtail, robins, blackbird, tits, woodpecker, swallows, crows, magpies, jackdaw, and jays regularly at, or around, the bird feeder outside the studio as well as buzzards regularly flying high over us and occasionally bats at dusk feeding. Along with the fox, squirrels, and even deer regularly scurrying around it makes for a magnificent workplace and definitely good for the soul.
Hey Ubes. Did you get that pic from Elton John's dressing room? Looks like he had a bit of a bleeding scab on his crown and it seeped through the piece. To this day, can't tell the difference between him wearing it and that region of the chook's anatomy. But then again he is into rear ends, ...quite literally. Hey Elton. Really love your hair. I'm jealous. It looks totally natural, because it is, right.
Having looked at some pictures it was definitely a lady blackbird….dunnock looks a bit like a sparrow to me, so I might have seen one s well…..
Where was this again? Doubt it could it have been in the FIELD of FVCKS. Nothing there. It's barren according to Blyth_bucaneer (sic) in Kiwi's The CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN CLOCK thread. BTW, that probably is a swear word.
I've got a pair of coal tits nesting under my house, we regularly get goldfinch, chaffinch, blackbirds (male and female!) sparrows and blue tits in the garden along with the magpies. We've also got a territorial robin who throws his weight around, a pair of woodpigeons and the gulls that visit whenever any food is put out. The deer are always coming in and eating my rose bush, it's like crack to them - bastards, and the grey squirrels come out to feed when I put the bird feeder up....I've tried to do stuff to keep them away from it, but I've caught them doing trapeze acts along the washing line before to get to it...amazing to watch. Mr fox skulks along occasionally too, and you can hear.him and his family screaming away some nights. The only problem is the midges at this time of year, wee ****ers are insatiable and pester the **** out of us come dusk
Today’s sightings, in addition to many of yesterday’s included what I think was a chaffinch and a bird of prey above the water meadows, I think it was a buzzard, quite big and brown. @rangercol, I’ve seen birds of prey in flight being surrounded and what’s looked liked chased by several other slightly smaller birds - possibly crows or magpies. Seen this around here a few times now. Obviously this happen quite high in the air so I might be mistaken, the other birds might be smaller birds of prey. Does this sound nuts? Wondering what the behaviour could mean.
Very common. Corvids like crows regularly mob birds of prey because they predate their young. Kites and Buzzards can just swoop down on crows nests and take the chicks.
