Did you ever hear such nonsense?

[Dick Glasgow]

Lord Burton of Dochfour claims Red Kites are killing Red Squirrels!

"However, landowner Lord Burton says they are "devastating" local populations of the threatened Red Squirrel - which are themselves the subject of a UK-wide conservation project."

Lord claims red kites are killing red squirrels!

"devastating"! ... did you ever hear such a load of utter HOGWASH!

I wonder if Lord Burton is or was a Judge! If so, that might explain why he appears to be living on another planet, from the rest of us!

Cheers
Dick

[vole-woman]

I'm just wondering whether the lord in question runs a game bird shoot...

[Deb London]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

I'm just wondering whether the lord in question runs a game bird shoot1...

Dry sense of humour - I like it VW!

[earthdragon64]

in answer to the question.......yes. Here's a link to a thread discussing this very same Lord and subject last year.

Red kites "killing red squirrels"

Regards, Audrey.

[Dick Glasgow]

Thanks for the link Audrey.

Interesting too, to see that there was a whole thread on this, over on the Bird Forum, but no response on the Mammal Forum!

Kinda says it all really doesn't it & shows that, for those in the know, there really is absolutely no danger at all to the Red Squirrel population, from even the odd rogue Red Kite that might be getting ideas above his or her station!

Hey, if one has worked out how to add Red Squirrel to it's diet, I'd be the first to say bon appetit!

Cheers
Dick

[vole-woman]

Well it reminded me of these jokers that we've mentioned on WAB before: Songbird Survival - Links They pretend to care about UK singbirds but really they just want corvids and raptors removed so their game birds aren't bothered.

[Dick Glasgow]

Here's another scaremonger story!

However, I wasn't too surprised to see that the person behind the claim is involved in Grouse Shooting!

"Growing numbers of buzzards could have had a negative impact on other rare species, it has been claimed."

"The 79-year-old regularly works on Aberdeenshire estates during the grouse season and ran a grouse moor near Galashiels for four years."

"He says the number of local species like curlews and red squirrels has dropped as the buzzard population has grown."

“Another concern is that they are killing red squirrels."

“Some organisations and pressure groups recently called for buzzards to be culled.
It is based on erroneous figures and information about what buzzards do and what they eat.”

Concern that Buzzards are killing Red Squirrels!

Have these eejits never heard of Natural Selection!
For how many hundreds of thousands of years, before recent times at least, have Buzzards & Red Squirrels coexisted in Scotland, without any help or interference from the dreaded Hunting, Shooting, Fishing Lobby!

Cheers
Dick

[eeyore]

yep , there is a lot of coblers talked about raptors , and red kites seem to get an undue ammount of attention (which is odd given that they eat mainly carrion and are less of a threat to game birds than virtually any other raptor (except maybe kestrels)

Its only a matter of time til someone claims there is a hazard of them entering houses and attacking childrenin their sleep

[RKB]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Its only a matter of time til someone claims there is a hazard of them entering houses and attacking childrenin their sleep

They're already being accused of aiding and abetting the Taleban (sort of!): BBC News - RAF Benson safety fears over red kite feeding

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by RKB

They're already being accused of aiding and abetting the Taleban (sort of!): BBC News - RAF Benson safety fears over red kite feeding

Ive got it, they are red kites so it must all be a communist plot

i work near benson and its hard to see how they are a bigger threat than the huge flocks of pigeons , or the ducks/geese/and swans.