On the subject of counting, in his latest blog the ever-sharp Alan Tilmouth examines Alex Hogg’s apparent inability to count (see here). This is well worth a read if you’re interested in understanding what ‘evidence’ the game-shooting industry uses to support its claims that raptors (especially buzzards) are decimating pheasant poults.
On the subject of accountability, George Monbiot has written a response to Magnus Linklater’s latest attack on the RSPB. This is also well worth a read, especially as Monbiot confirms Linklater’s association with game-shooting and uses it to suggest that journalists should be made to declare their interests so that readers can judge the independence of the journalist’s opinions. Monbiot’s article here.
Raptor Persecution UK 
At a release pen near my house there are usually four to five (or more) pheasant poults mown down daily by cars on a single track country road. This happens near many other release pens situated too close to public highways. Perhaps Alex Hogg would like to initiate a cull of cars to enable more poults to survive to the shooting season?
I am currently studying for my Key Stage 2 maths for gamekeepers with Alex and Bertie and I,m stuck on the following questions, any help appreciated. 1) A neighbouring farm has a pair of buzzards raising 2 young on it, how many buzzards are there? a) 4 too many b) A swarm c) at least 20. In your working out also show how gamekeepers can save the world. 2) A buzzard weighs 2lb a pheasant poult weighs 1lb, a buzzard eats half a pound of meat per day, how many poults does a buzzard eat per day. round your answer to the nearest 100 and showhow the RSPB are working with Dr Evil in your answer
Perhaps we should start a petition demandimg that all pheasants receive a closed ring, detailing the estate or owner of the pheasant, then when any damage is done to vehicles from collisions, the road user can easily seek compensation from said estates or owners.
I’ll use the well-respected SGA number-crunching computer here for my scientific analysis –
Yip, the results have just come through and in the past five years, vehicular collisions with Pheasants has resulted in an estimated £175,000 worth of damage to my 1997 Vauxhall!