Ruddy duck cull

[Kayleigh]

BBC NEWS | UK | Duck cull ruffles feathers

Its a shame, as these ducks a very pretty..When will people learn before other species are introduced.

Will this cull really work??

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

BBC NEWS | UK | Duck cull ruffles feathers

Its a shame, as these ducks a very pretty..When will people learn before other species are introduced.

Will this cull really work??

I guess it is a shame as the ducks are very nice to look at.
Unfortunately if action is not taken, it would be much more of a shame if the White-Headed Duck became extinct due to the Ruddies.
So something has to be done.

Yes - a cull almost certainly WILL work, but I found the last paragraph of the report very telling...

(QUOTE) "Mr Tyler estimated in an interview in The Independent newspaper that the government could fly the ducks back to the US in business class and it would still be cheaper than to wipe them out". (QUOTE)

Doug

edited:
This thread on WAB (16/11/07) may prove interesting reading...

[Adam Cheeseman]

This has given rise to a lot of debate, for and against, amongst birders and I know of several who carry out the WeBS counts who deliberately omit records of Ruddy Ducks to avoid advertising the whereabouts of wintering flocks.

From a British perspective they do not encroach on our native species because we do not have any representative of the Oxyura sub-family native to our islands, and this is why most people feel the cull is unnecessary here.

However it is the birds from here that have moved initially down to Spain and started interbreeding with the White-headed Ducks there, which are also of the Oxyura sub-family. Many feel (including myself) that any cull of Ruddy Ducks should take place where they are a direct threat to the White-heads.

Ruddy Ducks have not only reached the Spanish populations, but have recently reached the east european populations in Turkey too and will undoubtedly start interbreeding with them also.

By all accounts it is the male White-heads that find the female Ruddies attractive rather than the male Ruddies chasing after the female White-heads.

Recent reports suggest that the population of pure White-heads is doing rather well in Spain at the moment though.

Cheers,

Adam

[Adam Cheeseman]

(QUOTE) "Mr Tyler estimated in an interview in The Independent newspaper that the government could fly the ducks back to the US in business class and it would still be cheaper than to wipe them out". (QUOTE)

This would be quite difficult as British Ruddy Ducks will never have seen the other side of the Atlantic in their lives or for generations before that even. So in that respect they are more British than most human residents in this country. You would still have to catch them first too.

Cheers,

Adam

[Kayleigh]

This is a problem I don't think anyone will solve. But I do think the solution lies with Spain and not here.

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

This has given rise to a lot of debate, for and against, amongst birders and I know of several who carry out the WeBS counts who deliberately omit records of Ruddy Ducks to avoid advertising the whereabouts of wintering flocks.

From a British perspective they do not encroach on our native species because we do not have any representative of the Oxyura sub-family native to our islands, and this is why most people feel the cull is unnecessary here.

However it is the birds from here that have moved initially down to Spain and started interbreeding with the White-headed Ducks there, which are also of the Oxyura sub-family. Many feel (including myself) that any cull of Ruddy Ducks should take place where they are a direct threat to the White-heads.

Ruddy Ducks have not only reached the Spanish populations, but have recently reached the east european populations in Turkey too and will undoubtedly start interbreeding with them also.

By all accounts it is the male White-heads that find the female Ruddies attractive rather than the male Ruddies chasing after the female White-heads.

Recent reports suggest that the population of pure White-heads is doing rather well in Spain at the moment though.

Cheers,

Adam

Thats interesting Adam
I thought it was the female White-heads chasing after the Male Ruddies, as they are er.... urrrmm... "particularly well endowed".
There is a close relation of the Ruddy, with a VERY long penis indeed, (longer than the equivalent on an ostrich! - something around the 20" mark I seem to remember, though surely that can't be right?!), complete with spines.
One theory (I thought, anyway) was that the Male Ruddies are similarly well equipped - which the female White-heads prefer to their own males organs. So to speak.

Doug

[Kayleigh]

[I thought it was the female White-heads chasing after the Male Ruddies, as they are er.... urrrmm... "particularly well endowed".
There is a close relation of the Ruddy, with a VERY long penis indeed, (longer than the equivalent on an ostrich! - something around the 20" mark I seem to remember, though surely that can't be right?!), complete with spines.
One theory (I thought, anyway) was that the Male Ruddies are similarly well equipped - which the female White-heads prefer to their own males organs. So to speak.]

Well that's why then..

Am I right in thinking the White-heads are not in this country at all..

[aeshna5]

Have just read of increasing numbers of White-headed Duck wintering in Israel with a few thousand present. The numbers are also increasing in Spain.

I certainly understand why they are culled in Spain + some other countries but I still feel uneasy about the UK massacre of this bird. I've read the arguments for + against numerous times + most naturalists have polarised opinions on this (I'm unlikely to change mine!) but feel the millions being spent could have been spent far more beneficially. I sympathise with the omission of Ruddy Ducks from surveyors data too!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by The Black Rabbit

Thats interesting Adam
I thought it was the female White-heads chasing after the Male Ruddies, as they are er.... urrrmm... "particularly well endowed".
There is a close relation of the Ruddy, with a VERY long penis indeed, (longer than the equivalent on an ostrich! - something around the 20" mark I seem to remember, though surely that can't be right?!), complete with spines.
One theory (I thought, anyway) was that the Male Ruddies are similarly well equipped - which the female White-heads prefer to their own males organs. So to speak.

Doug

AArgh Doug, you've planted a small seed of doubt in my mind now. It is definitely the W-hs chasing after the Ruddies. I will have to re-check my sources for the sexes.

Cheers,

Adam

[Gill Catton]

I have always rather sat on the fence about this one.

I think on the whole I'm pro I don't see how I can be sad about ruddy ducks dying when I eat chickens or when I'm happy for grey squirrels to be culled around greys...

plus I think the solution probably lies wth culling here and in Spain and everywhere else inbetween no point in just here if they are happily multiplying elsewhere or only in Spain while the reserviour of birds outside of Spain grows larger and larger......

There may still be a chance that the horse has not yet bolted but its becoming slimmer by the season.....

[naturelover]

well said adam,i bet there is not many british people left here any way,and i mean true brits,but we dont cull them.