Monday 7 April 2014

And still it goes on!

I'm not one for politics I lead a pretty laid back life with good morals but some things really get my goat, politicians being one! I'm not going to moan on about it here but by god I wish we could get someone in power who really gives a hoot about the environment and protecting it!

Sadly bird of prey persecution continues in the UK and to be honest its none stop really, maybe this is because we are becoming more aware and people/groups are making more noise about it but I definitely agree with the statement that what is found is only the tip of a very big iceberg!

I get regular updates and new flashes via e-mail and social media and within the last 7 days it has resulted in the updates of the 16 birds of prey found poisoned in Scotland, a buzzard from the Peak District found in a leg trap and a poisoned Peregrine falcon.

As always you can keep up to date with the latest raptor persecution in Britain check out

 http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/


Else where in the world Chris Packham is raising awareness on the slaughter of thousands of birds in Malta during the migration. Interestingly we had a vet from Malta visit work to ask for advice on rehabilitation and furthering her contacts, she regularly has Marsh Harrier/Honey Buzzard and other bird species brought to her for treatment after being shot by Maltese hunters. I asked her if it was getting better out there and more importantly are the Maltese government actually doing anything and her opinion was that things had improved and the government and law enforcement in Malta were working hard to stop the slaughter. It will be interesting to see if Chris Packhams work out in Malta shows otherwise. A few years ago I did weigh up spending a week out in Malta during the migration helping monitor and police the migration of thousands of birds over Malta including many species of birds of prey but in the end part of me had to ask could I stand on a view point and watch a Honey Buzzard being shot out the sky in the distance? The answer was no I couldn't!

Find out about Chris Packhams work http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/

My 2014 season has started monitoring wild birds of prey on my patches albeit slowly as I have a new team mate in the shape of an 8 week old Dachshund puppy who doesn't quite have the legs for a full day in the countryside yet. Early signs are that Tawny owls are having a good start to the year my faithful pair have 4 eggs and other pairs on territory. The Little owls that nested in the side of some aviaries at work are calling every afternoon and hopefully will take to one of the nest boxes I have put up for them. I feel I am behind on Ravens this year, I really need to pull my finger out and get up some trees to check nest sites. Buzzards are all in the usual places with new sites appearing and I had a lovely view of a male Goshawk in my local woods whilst out running the other evening on the side of the wood I haven't found them yet! Long eared owls are also on the cards this year with a nice evening spent in Wales with Steve Roberts locating sites which turned up one brief sighting of a male and a distant female nest calling. It will all kick off soon I love this time of year!

We've had a few sighting's of Red kites over the centre and that's another thing on the bucket list for this year, I must get down to a feeding station its been 10 years since I last visited Girgrin farm.

Ok I better go the puppy is trying to demolish a newspaper all over the lounge! I will write again soon sorry for the delay!!