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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cantelo" data-source="post: 1396701" data-attributes="member: 2844"><p>You only have to do some winter birding on Sheppey for raptors (Peregrine, Merlin, Kestrel, Buzzard, Rough-legged Buzzard, Hen & Marsh Harrier) to realise that Pheasant/Partridge shoots and raptors are not necessarily incompatible.   Retention of hedgerows, fallow areas, planting of food crops, etc all encourage the mammals/birds that provide food for BoPs.  Personally, I find the spectacle of phalanxes of shotgun hefting tweedy types stumping across fields distasteful, but the raptors don't seem to mind so why should I?  That said, I don't think there's much doubt that some gamekeepers continue to poison/shoot raptors - after all they regularly appear in court for such offences.  Whatever the scale of the problem (and it's very hard to be sure) the problem is not as intense as it was 50 years ago,</p></blockquote><p></p>