Sparrow hawks (1 Viewer)

[Ranger James]

Thank goodness some other share by boiling blood!
This matter about raptors being bad for the countryside!?! they are teh bloody countryside! Pigeon fanciers have appalled me since a child - if they want to race thier pets theough wild habitat surely the risk involved should be part of thier sport?
And anyone using false sentimentality about wildlife to further their casue in this way is also rather pathetic. Right rant over, nice to meet you all!
James

 

[Cuckoo-shrike]

.....if they want to race thier pets theough wild habitat surely the risk involved should be part of thier sport?
James

Well ranted James! Absolutely!!
This has parallels with an incident down here a few years back when a certain local businessman was taking to court for shooting a heron that was raiding his fish-pond. The points were made that
i) if he is going to provide a fast-food takeaway for local wildlife, he has to face the consequences;
ii) he could have covered the pond with protective netting for considerably less than the fine he received!
Aquila

 

[saluki]

When I lived in Argyll we were plagued by a female Spar one winter (usually it is one particular individual raptor that causes problems, not a whole species). Our pigeons weren't racers, just pets, and we readily accepted that some would be taken by predators (there was a Peregrine nest within sight of the house) - but this particular Spar was something else! She decimated the flock from around forty birds to a dozen very frightened ones that hardly dared leave the shed. One bird, a white Frillback, had been rescued from her clutches, but her back had been partially eaten. The last straw came when she started entering the shed to kill them! One day we managed to catch her, box her up, pop a red pigeon ring on her leg and give her to a friend who was driving down to Glasgow the next day - he consequently released her on farmland on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Two weeks later we heard the chooks alarm calling and were just in time to see a Spar snatch up what we thought was a OE Game chick. She landed on the drive and my uncle managed to sneak down and take a couple of pics of her. Two surprises: the chick was in fact a baby rabbit (only the second time I've witnessed a Spar killing anything bar birds); and the Spar had a bright red pigeon ring on her leg!

Anyone who doesn't think raptors can cause problems with livestock, game and colonies of rare birds is living in cloud cuckoo land to be honest. However, as I stated before I believe it is individuals who cause the problems (and very few of those), so the call for the wholesale slaughter of raptors is ridiculas IMO. Personally I would never kill any raptor (and I realise I'll probably get flack from some for breaking the law when relocating the Spar), I've always believed it is prey numbers that control predators, not vice-versa.

It is all too easy to accuse anyone who wants to cull raptors of being a 'redneck' when one hasn't been on the receiving end of raptor problems - name-calling simply inflames the situation IMO.

saluki

 

[Ranger James]

I do not mean to incite name calling and I appologise. I understand the 'problems' wild predators cause to domesticated livestock in this country as i have family ties with various farms in North Devon and worked for some time on an orgganic chicken farm in mid devon. Foxes and Buzzards all had thier eye on the glut of chicken that were availible and of course they should. It is perfectly natural - like shooting fish in a barrel - when such a surplus of fat, overfed and lazy animals are aggrigatd in one area it will naturally become a target for opourtunistic predators.
It is the vilification of a species, or individual in human terms that gets my goat. These birds are doing what they need to do to survive, and we are providing them with the prey to do so.
If i was an avid collector of sunflower seeds imagine my horror when i saw a vicious flock of goldfinches decimating the collection with no mercy. I know that's facetious, but it has paralels.
It will always be a question of priority, and fish fanciers see herons - chrikey, even the mass-adored otter - as blood-thirsty killers hell-bent on the destruction of thier collection.
At the end of the day it is much easier to replace the collection.

 

[GreatHornedOwl]

Vicious flocks of Goldfinches, hahahahaha ! And psychopathic Sparrowhawks ! This is just hysterical !

Seriously, I wish I could see a psycho sparrowhawk persecute a flock of those mean goldfinches. And perhaps some of those nasty bullfinches as well.

I've never heard about a bird of prey extirpating a whole cot of doves, but I believe you - it would be just a testimony to the adaptability of that species.

In fact, it's like those bloodthirsty Grey herons who murder all the expensive koi and goldfish people keep in their garden ponds. I personally heard about a guy who lost his temper after being robbed for the second time by the same heron : he grabbed a shotgun and blasted the bird to shreds.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I'd imagine there may be gardeners who are probably quite cheerful at the extirpation of those voracious Bullfinches that strip the buds off their plants.

 

[Elizabeth Bigg]

I'd imagine there may be gardeners who are probably quite cheerful at the extirpation of those voracious Bullfinches that strip the buds off their plants.

They should send them to me then - they'd be welcome to strip all the buds, if they'd only stay in my garden.

 

[GreatHornedOwl]

Hell, they'd be welcome to strip anything they want - if only they would show themselves. But people who actually get to see voracious bud-stripping bullfinches are themselves a rarity these days.

 

[PaulAshton]

The site is supported by BiteNet so It may be a good idea to click their logo at the bottom of the screen and email the site provider to give comments on this anti-raptor site that may be encouraging the illegal persecution of raptors.

Enough bad publicity could close the site down.

 

[Ranger James]

Good idea, although by the sounds of things the site is dormant, best let sleeping things... sleep.
Saw a bullfinch about this time last year, in a hedge near Branscombe, but that was the last one for me!

 

[jayhunter]

My local Sparrowhawk seems to take Starlings and Blackbirds. Never seen her chasing Goldfinches, Greenfinches or Chaffinches, unfortuneately I have only seen one Bullfinch. (maybe she has already eaten them all, Ranger James only joking).

 

[seb_seb]

I think the Sparrowhawks take simply what is most abundant and common in the area? If there is lots of Greenfinches they will be eating greenfinches? If there is lots of Blue Tits they will be eating blue tits? The site seems to make out that raptors prefer to eat the more rare species LMAO - "Im a hungry sparrowhawk with a brood to feed, theres a sparrow cant eat that because its common....must search for a Corn Bunting"

 

[Elizabeth Bigg]

I think the Sparrowhawks take simply what is most abundant and common in the area? If there is lots of Greenfinches they will be eating greenfinches? If there is lots of Blue Tits they will be eating blue tits? The site seems to make out that raptors prefer to eat the more rare species LMAO - "Im a hungry sparrowhawk with a brood to feed, theres a sparrow cant eat that because its common....must search for a Corn Bunting"

I was very sad when I found the circle of feathers that indicated our song thrush had been taken. It had been a regular visitor, and we've only seen one once since, some time ago. Plenty of collared doves and bluetits here - we've seen a collared dove taken on two occasions.

 

[Steve G]

I'd imagine there may be gardeners who are probably quite cheerful at the extirpation of those voracious Bullfinches that strip the buds off their plants.

Its the bloody Blackbirds -they pull up the plant labels in my hardy orchid bed so I don't know whats where. Thankfully the problem is improving through the timely intervention of friendly neighbours- the Accipiters- a lovely couple. They have taken it upon themselves to patrol our neighbourhood keeping troublesome adolescent Blackbirds in order-yet seek no reward for their services.

 

[GreatHornedOwl]

Its the bloody Blackbirds -they pull up the plant labels in my hardy orchid bed so I don't know whats where. Thankfully the problem is improving through the timely intervention of friendly neighbours- the Accipiters- a lovely couple. They have taken it upon themselves to patrol our neighbourhood keeping troublesome adolescent Blackbirds in order-yet seek no reward for their services.

That's good - well I look forward to seeing a couple of them cute Sparrowhawks decimating the ranks of those awful Blackbirds overhere; I've had enough of these stupid black critters shattering the still at 5 o'clock. . Silence is a fundamental human right!

 

[Ranger James]

I think spar is right - no animal should have human values or morals imposed upon it. Unless an animal can recognise - ie is empathic to the pain it is causing it can't be deemed to be being cruel in its actions. The loss of a song thrush is a cruel blow to the garden's owner, but represents a lucky hit for the sparrow hawk - a good meal there.
Cats on the other hand... now lets not get started!

 

[esmondb]

Just a footnote to this, they usually target the weakest prey just a part of natures natural selection,thus in a indirect way aiding the preys gene pool.

Lol Spar(nature is neither cruel nor kind )

I hate to disagree, but...

Sparrowhawks use surprise as their main weapon of attack.
It would follow that they would prey mainly on the unluckiest rather than the weakest.

 

[simple]

It stinks of Gamekeepers as well as them Pigeon geezers to me! I love the bit about Langholm moor!! its not got anything to do with the fact the Gamekeepers have stopped managing the moor, if anyone has been up there recently they would have seen sheep just about everywhere, overgrazing has lead to there being a decline in Grouse numbers and there is your knock on effect. Its really sad that you get this Magpie thing all the time as well I'm fed up with hearing that from jo public, the Magpie is just doing what it does the way big momma nature intended.

 

[nirofo]

I wonder what would happen to all the nasty little birds if there were no humans around to drain all those stinking wet bogs full old reeds and sedges, to chop down all those horrible natural forests full of dead trees and creepy crawlies. I suppose some of them could take to fishing in the polluted rivers or maybe dive in the fishless sea for a nice juicy invisible sand eel. But, if all the darling little birds became too fat with dining on all the non abundant natural foods that they love, then we could count on the dastardly Sparrowhawk to thin them down a bit.

 

[saluki]

I hate to disagree, but...

Sparrowhawks use surprise as their main weapon of attack.
It would follow that they would prey mainly on the unluckiest rather than the weakest.

Would it? Wouldn't it follow that the weakest are often the 'unlikiest'?

saluki