Will it ever stop and who's going to really stand up for raptors?

Its amazing really what can happen in the space of a couple of months when you follow bird of prey persecution in Britain closely.

Maybe not surprising to some is the fact that birds of prey are still being persecuted, and proving this recently was the eventual news release about the suspicious death and movement of a Golden Eagle in Scotland. Movement you might ask, how does something move when it is dead? Well after no movement from the birds satellite transmitter for over 12 hours it then randomly moved in the middle of the night and found itself under a tree near a lay-by some 15km away. Diurnal birds of prey don't tend to move in darkness if your unsure. If that doesn't smell odd, I forget to mention both it legs were broken in a way very similar to that of a spring trap. Check out the full story here http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/325140-conservationists-appalled-by-eagle-death

More recently was the news of a Golden Eagle being found shot on a Grouse more in Dumfriesshire, the bird is still alive luckily and I'll keep you posted on its outcome. You can read more here http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/326377-condemnation-as-golden-eagle-found-shot

So with birds like the Golden Eagle being persecuted and many more including the now rare breeding Hen Harrier with possibly only one pair breeding in England this year, you might expect the government to take action. Sadly not yet in fact a backward step was taken when our environement minister Richard Benyon declined a complete ban on owning Carbofuran a known favourite for poisoning wildlife and birds of prey in particular. What makes this decision even more distasteful is the fact that Carbofuran has no legal use in our country, so why allow it to be legally owned ?????

The RSPB Birdcrime 2011 report has recently been released and it asks the government to finally stand up against wildlife crime and bird of prey persecution in particular. You can read it yourself here http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Birdcrime_2011_edit_tcm9-324819.pdf

You can also read the recent report released by the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into the extent of willdife crime in the UK. Its a pretty damning report, maybe this will make the government take action?
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/overview-of-parliamentary-wildlife-crime-report/

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmenvaud/140/140.pdf

So watch this space, hopefully not to long though for the sake of the birds of prey still out there trying to survive.

Bird of the month page updated!

 I had to pick the Eurasian Hobby after this years sighting of them! Make sure you check out the videos if nothing else!

You can find it on the right hand side of the blog!

I wish it was sunnier!

I have just been reading through and catching up on whats on the Raptor Politics site and also Raptor Persecution Scotland blog.

I read a piece on the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog relating to a game keepers diary which had made me thinking back to conversations I have had both recently and in the past relating to my passion, Birds of Prey. I wanted to share them with you in this post because although I'm a glass half full kind of guy when I read and hear things like this it brings me crashing back down to earth.

The RPS article which can be read here http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/dear-diary/ relates to a gamekeepers diary. It really doesn't make pleasant reading and as I read it further and the blatant illegal activities grew I thought this can't be true, can you be so stupid to write this stuff down? Yet maybe it is because I have read equally upsetting diaries from Victorian times and the game keepers gibbet is a not to distant memory. This made me think of some conversations I have had with people from all walks of life relating to raptors in the wild.

I have friends who shoot, the majority farmers as I'm from a farming background and I get told the odd story ludicrous story from a rough shoot one in particular that a Barn Owl got flushed over the guns and shot accidentally! Is that really a case of misidentification and if so they shouldn't be shooting or is it something more deep rooted that when man has a gun anything with tooth and claw should be shot dead to help the shoot? Needless to say I never got any further trying to find out if this story was just a pub tale.

I spoke to a farmer who is a good friend of my fathers and someone I respect. He also has links with an urban nesting pair of Peregrines which I had recently found out about. I mentioned I would like to see the pair one day and does anyone monitor their activities each year. His response surprised me when he said "I was hoping you could come and remove them as they make a right mess each year!" I quickly pointed out that they are Schedule 1 birds afforded the highest protection and he should be pleased to have them. He happily let me visit the site which was outside of the breeding season so no sign of the birds but it was an interesting site and also interesting to speak to the maintenance chap who said they were actually no problem at all. It was the pigeons who made the mess and the falcons regurlarly hunted them so they were more than welcome!

I have also had my fair share of run ins with gamekeepers and one local keeper in particular who I'm sure would eradicate me if he could. I have been in the same pub with him a couple of times and have mutual friends and on one of these meetings I plucked up the courage to ask if I could monitor the birds of prey within his woodland. The response I got was sharp, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was never to set foot in his woods and if I were ever to ring a bird of prey he would shoot it! Needless to say I never tresspass and wouldn't want to monitor birds within his woods for fear of letting him know where they are!

My final story was the most recent as it is on my patch that I montior and ring birds of prey on. I bumped into one of the chaps who runs a small rough shoot on the land who I get on well with, he mentioned he had seen a winged tagged buzzard and I explained my mentor had tagged the young from this year to montior dispersal. The next part of the conversation baffled me though! He asked if buzzards had bred in a small copse where they have a release pen, they hadn't so I told him this and he then told me he had been in their feeding the poults when a Buzzard flew up from the ground and into a tree. On closer inspection he found a dead poult but imagine how amazed I was when he said "I had my gun with me but I decided I couldn't shoot it"!!!! So not 5 minutes before we were talking about me closely monitoring the buzzard then he mentions contemplating shooting one! I pointed out that really wouldn't  be clever and it is a criminal offence that I would report immediately to both land owner and police if I heard or found this going on.

I have also read on a falconry forum the call from some members to cull Buzzard because of the effect they are having on their hunting trips and attacking their birds. I've also lost count of the amount of back garden bird feeders who have played hell with me about Sparrowhawks killing their little birds, my own Granma was the last one!

Maybe the extracts from the RPS gamekeeper diary are true then based on my experiences! But it just brings home that birds of prey are still under immense pressure from all walks of life! I believe anyone who comes across such stories needs to keep a calm head and explain things in a polite manner! Whether the authorities will back the persecution up is still to be seen!

Maybe it will be sunnier for some species of birds of prey soon  but education is the main key in my opinion!

Hobby Hunting with Ben & Holly!

I have just recently spent a fab few days at the ICBP helping out at their annual Falconry Weekend and as always Jemima made me feel very welcome as did the rest of the team and it all went very well!

I got to meet so great new people and also some old friends, I ran a little activity area for children as it was also International Vulture Awareness Day on the Saturday so we did lots of fun vulture related activities right outside Delectable the Griffon Vultures aviary! Make sure you visit www.icbp.org the Owl evenning are due to begin!

Now I have heard several people at the ICBP talk about Hobby's flying over the centre and even that they breed nearby and it has always intrigued me. The Hobby (Falco subbuteo) is a small but long sharp winged falcon that is classed as a British bird of prey but not one that winters here, at this moment in time I imagine many British Hobbies will have started their migration back to Africa. The migration is based primarily on food supply and weather, the Hobby loving to hunt birds like Swallows and House Martins and Dragons flies and other bugs. Our warm weather wakes up the dragon flies and brings the Swallows and House Martins back to their breeding grounds along with the Hobby.

Hobbies have spread fairly well over the last 10 years or so from parts of Eastern UK across and up into the Midlands and North of England. My area of Cheshire has a few hotspots for seeing them especially when feeding and it is not unheard of to find a number of Hobbies hunting over the same area.

Whilst packing away some fencing with Ben after the ICBP event I heard a falcon(s) calling excitidly. It call didn't quite fit the call I am more use to of the Kestrel but sounded like a group of falcons which I put down to young birds with their parent(s). I thought could it be a family of Hobbies still around?

The next day I was in the horse paddock moving another fence and it was another fine sunny day when I heard the calling again, fast repetitive kew kew kew kew as if an adult was being greeted by hungry young beaks! I mentioned it to Ben a bit later on,  he had heard it the day before and sad as I am I played both the Kestrel and Hobby calls which I have on a phone app. He agreed that it sounded more like aHobby so we decided to go and see if we could get a visual.

I know Hobbies often use old crows nest which are usually on open ground in a tree like Oak. We heard the calling of what I thought was young birds but in the next field on and as we walked along a band of trees we got our first visual, four Hobbies playing and chasing each other above trees in the distance. We stopped under a tree and watched as the birds came in and out of view, sometimes the birds landed and one went up and into a large Oak and out again. An adult bird came in and the young started calling, rushing to meet the bird one youngster looked to receive a food item in mid air. Then the noise subsided and they vanished off over the woods. Ben seemed to get a couple of long distance shots with the camera and we made our way back to the centre.

That evening Holly wanted to see the Hobbies so we made our way across the the fields to the site where me and Ben had stopped. Sadly no sign of the birds this time but I walked a little closer to get a better look with my binoculars at the Oak presumed to be the nest site, sure enough a large stick nest could just be made out in the tree.

I read afterwards in Anthony Chapmans book The Hobby that the birds start to disperse from their breeding sites around 4 weeks later. It is important to point out that the species is protected by law and nest sites should not be appoached during the breeding season to avoid disturbance.

A real highlight for my summer sightings this year!

To find out more about such a stunning little falcon check out what Arkive have to say http://www.arkive.org/eurasian-hobby/falco-subbuteo/  

An important thing to sign Raptor fans!!

I just needed to share with you three links to some very important pages the first is a petition that you need to sign and is regarding the awful shooting of migrating birds over Malta. Many of these birds include Honey Buzzards, Marsh harrier and Osprey.

It just takes 2 minutes and they are nearly at their total of 5000!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Spring_Hunting_in_Malta/?tta

If the above is a bit new to you don't worry BBC Radio 4 Nature have done a piece investigating the hunting in Malta.

Find it here at Raptor Politics.org http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2012/08/02/bbc-radio-4-nature-series-7-bird-wars-on-malta/comment-page-1/#comment-11124

And if you have a spare 30 minutes and follow the illegal persecution of raptors in the UK why not voice your concerns to the European Environmental Commission, the more sent through the more likely action will be taken don't leave it to someone else!

http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2012/08/03/voicing-our-concern-to-the-europenan-environmental-commission-on-the-lack-of-protection-for-britains-birds-of-prey/

All of the above will surely only take you half an hour, surely thats better than watching Eastenders!

Thanks.

Step away from the Olympics!

Well the Olympics is well underway and I have just been interrupted in starting this post by watching the fastest men in the world race 100 metres. Its all very exciting and makes me very proud to be British. Enough about that though as I'm sure you might have come here to get away from all the Olympic talk.

I must apologise if I post something below that I have posted in a previous edition, I have just sifted through my inbox and files and realised they are well over due a tidy up since my last post. Their is lots to pick through below from news in the field, new papers and a book to be released. Hopefully you will find something interesting or useful to read.

Firstly their have been some scientific papers that have dropped into my inbox from various sources, sadly I don't subscribe to the sites publishing the papers so only have access to the abstracts but you can find the links to these below.

The first one assesses the risk of extinction to the critically endangered Bonellis eagle in Italy - http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-summer-buzzards-common-buzzard-and-honey-buzzard?dm_i=IG4,VKOX,4BMHAI,2LTST,1

The next two are based on falcons, the first on vocalisations in Lanner Falcons and the second of the relationship between brood size and prey selection in Peregrine falcons in a specific region

http://www.springerlink.com/content/f5g4k6577819051h/

http://www.springerlink.com/content/npgp66w817304718/

When you open one of the above links if you look to the left hand side of the page you will also find other bird of prey related papers which might be of interest.

Next their is a couple of recent newsletters the first being from the Belize Raptor Research Institute showing the work they are doing and the Solitary Eagle nest and young they are monitoring. The second from the Neotropical Raptor Research Group which has a nice article from the Belize group but also further tropical raptor species news.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/13983865/1359194174/name/Summer%202012%20Issue%204%20Belize%20Raptor%20Research%20Institute%20Nesl - Belize Raptor Research Institute

http://neotropicalraptors.org/Newsletter%20PDFs/NRN%20Newsletter13%20English.pdf

The Green Balkans.org site announced in May the first Griffon nest recorded in recent decades on the Balkan Mountains, if you haven't seen this news you can read more here http://greenbalkans.org/show.php?id=1475&language=en_EN&cat_id=35 but you can keep right upto date with more receent news at http://greenbalkans.org/category.php?language=en_EN&cat_id=35

You can find an interesting story from the Peregrine Fund on their continued work to save the stunning Orange Breasted Falcons, sadly some birds they came across had bot fly infestation and you can find out more in this link http://www.peregrinefund.org/news-release/242 make sure you also check out the rest of their news pages and why not sign up to their e-newsletter.

I have a few videos now for you to check out the first from Munir Virani working for the Peregrine Fund and trying to further highlight the plight of vultures in India and Africa http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Munir-Virani-Why-I-love-vulture;TEDNairobi

The next video is on the amazing Harpy Eagle, it isn't in English but that doesn't really matter as the footage is fantastic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXyUmaLQIJg&feature=em-share_video_user

The final video might help any budding raptor enthusiasts in identifying the Common Buzzard and Honey Buzzard, its been produced by the BTO and if you look to the left of the screen you will find many more videos designed to help with bird ID including several raptors http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-summer-buzzards-common-buzzard-and-honey-buzzard?dm_i=IG4,VKOX,4BMHAI,2LTST,1

But if you really want to scrub up on your raptor identification then you need to head to something like the Batumi Raptor Count, in its 5th year it is holding a bird festival at the end of September http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/projects/batumi-bird-festival

Finally a new book is due to be released in Sept/Nov based on the Boreal or Tengmalms owl, it always excites me when a specific in depth book is due to be released on any raptor species . You can find it here on Amazon to pre order http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boreal-Owl-Behaviour-Conservation-Forest-Dwelling/dp/0521113717/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344203293&sr=1-1

Hopefully something of interest in the above, I'm about to fall asleep faster than Usain Bolt can win the 100metres. Keep coming back as I'm currently compiling a piece on illegal vulture killings Muti in Africa.

I'm still alive and so is the blog!

I'm still alive and so is the blog!!!

But where have I been and what has been going on in the bird world? I have been busy continuing with my BTO bird ringing training with another season under my belt. I must admit a very wet season which has affected some species more than others, Sparrowhawks were thin on the ground this year.

Whats happening in the bird of prey world or what has been happening? Lets start on home soil here in the UK. The fight goes on between land owners/Gamekeepers and birds of prey in Britain, two stories which highlighted this were the government body DEFRA announcing the idea to implement a management plan for Common Buzzard and its effect on Game birds predominantly Pheasant. One of the management methods mentioned in the plan was the movement of birds and also the destruction of Buzzard nest sites! This caused a lot of disgruntled e-mails and responses  and a U-turn was swiftly pulled by DEFRA. My view on this is simple, despite the fact I lean towards birds of prey I have many friends who shoot including gamekeepers and they have backed my view up that Buzzards only have an impact for a very short period and then the Pheasant soon wise up and grow up. My other thought like many others is how can you manage a native species for a species which is introduced in its millions.

The other story came from Scotland and again highlights the sometimes fraught relationship between land owners and birds of prey. A Scottish sheep farmer claimed Golden Eagles were causing extreme pressure on her sheep farming with a pair killing £9000 of livestock. Again a simple mathmatical sum based on the price of lambs would show the pair would have to kill a ridiculous number of lambs, and why has no one got any evidence of Golden or White Tailed Eagles actively taking lambs? I'm not claiming it doesn't ever happen but and know hill farmers have it tough but maybe it needs further research.

You can find out more and keep up to date as always at http://www.raptorpolitics.org.uk/ and http://www.raptorpersecutionscotland.blogspot.com/

If the kids have now broken up and your looking for something to do why not take them down to the International Centre of Birds of Prey as its still as great as ever with some of this years babies now out and in training. The new website is now live take a look http://www.icbp.org.uk/

Over the next month I am going to try and do a few specific blogs on topics that have come up recently ranging from killing vultures for Muti medicine and my view on the state of raptors in Britain. I'll also blog the latest links to raptor papers I have had in my in box over the last 2 months so keep checking back.

Thanks for bearing with me!