Red kites "killing red squirrels"

[HanDiiMaNz]

Strange indeed.. The red kites feet are quite small, a sparrowhawk has bigger feet than it. I doubt this is true.

[Dick Glasgow]

Hey folks, aren't we missing the point a little?

Even if the odd Red Kite were able to catch a young Red Squirrel now & again ... So What!

The Lord wrote: "... devastating" local populations of the threatened Red Squirrel"

Yeah Right! Come off it '.. me Lord!
.... it's not as if Red Kites are about to exterminate the Highland Red Squirrel population!

I've seen how these guys operate first hand.
As a Keeper on an Irish shoot, many years ago, I watched a curious Peregrine fly out over the guns, during a Pheasant drive, when suddenly a couple of F'in Guns took pot shots at the Peregrine!
I immediately saw RED & as a flanker out on the field that day, I was able to run forward shouting "Don't Shoot, it's a Peregrine"!
Well, I've never seen a Lord so angry ... or red faced!
Can you believe it, he actually tried to fob the whole thing off by saying It was OK, it was just a Kestrel!
He later told me that if I ever behaved like that again, I would be sacked ... of course I didn't give him the opportunity & left soon after that!

I'm afraid most of these guys don't really care about their wildlife, they're in it for the Money!

Cheers
Dick

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Dick Glasgow

I'm afraid most of these guys don't really care about their wildlife, they're in it for the Money!

Cheers
Dick

Spot on.

[John B (NTS)]

The lengths that some will go to to give anything with a hooked bill a bad name...

[John B (NTS)]

Originally Posted by stigofthedump

His Lordship believes that the area cannot sustain such a population of released Red Kites.
One would have assumed that the RSPB (am I allowed to use that acronym with out being subject to litigation?) carried out a feasibility study on the release area which would have addressed such issues as breeding sites food availability, including available carrion, mortality, dispersal etc.
Any one know where I could access such data?


‘Considering the interest the so-called Songbird Protection mob whipped up, it's a bit worrying that this may be another angle of the anti-raptor bandwaggon that we should be aware of’

A worrying thought indeed Dutchess

Ah but Red Squirrels aren't above a spot of songbird nest predation - this must present a bit of a PR dilemma for Songbird Survival. With any luck they'll short circuit and implode.