Jedi Knights, the protectors of the countryside, are warning of ruthless cyborgs disguised as red kites coming from the Death Star to kill pheasant poults. The Knights have called upon their Chosen One, Albert Hogburn, to help them neutralise the Dark Force.
Albert said: “Teach me this at Yoda College they did. Uphold peace and justice will we. Evil red kites prevail shall not and lightsabre force feel will they. Stopped they must be; on this all depends. Carrion-eaters not they are and rural economy collapse it will if defeated they are not. Only a fully-trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer and save the pheasants”.
Donald Spewing-Moore of the Royal Bird Protection Society said: “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now, a kestrel just stole my car. These damn raptors are getting way out of hand. I wonder if Albert and his Jedi Knights will deploy their Imperial Star Destroyer to patrol my house?”
A totally unconnected story in the Dumfries & Galloway Standard here.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Garbage, more pheasants are killed by motorists than birds of prey. If only I could meet some of these d### h###s, I would you use a few more harsh words to describe them.
I wonder if they’ll apologise when an “investigation” shows that something else killed these poults?…but I wont be wondering long!…they never do…
It will all depend on which organisation carries out the investigation. If it’s the SGA or any of its affiliates, then it will be guaranteed that the results will show that the Red Kite population is having a devastating effect on not only Pheasant populations, but also songbirds and other forms of wildlife.
Meanwhile, in the real world, we all know that the true problems facing wildlife all lie with those involved with game rearing, their idiotic, backward thinking mentlities and their determination to rid the nation of all its raptors and ground-based predators.
“Garbage, more pheasants are killed by motorists than birds of prey” did you mean to say ” …..more motorists are killed by pheasants than birds of prey!”? Well the chances are greater.
There is another example of quality SGA approved pheasant management in Alex’s blog. He admits to the death of hundreds of poults- caused by holding them in release pens, clearly without sufficient shelter in prolonged wet weather.
Surely at that life stage they are “livestock” and should be subject to farm standards? [Ed: last sentence removed. There’s no evidence to support the claim].