Hey, guess what? The Scottish Gamekeepers Association is urging the Scottish Government to kill predators! Gosh, it must be all of two weeks since they last called for this sort of action. Thank goodness they’re so full of fresh new ideas.
In an amusingly familiar article in the Scotsman (see here), we learn that the SGA has declared 2014 as the Year of the Wader and will use this banner as a way of repeatedly asking the government to kill some predators, although they haven’t actually specified which predators they want killed. Any will do, right?
In honour of this initiative, we’ve declared 2014 as the Year of the Wanker, and we’ll use this banner as a way of repeatedly asking the government to get rid of some wankers. We might specify which wankers should be removed or we might just generalise in the hope of netting one or two in a broad trawl.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Quote:
“Thank goodness they’re so full of fresh new ideas.”, I can think of something else just as nasty that they are full of !
Quote 2:
“we learn that the SGA has declared 2014 as the Year of the Wader”, Are there any waders left on the monoculture created grouse moors ?
Aw, you made oi larf . . . .
Hmmm, Alex Hogg. Wasn’t he guy who reckons Goshawks are an “introduced” species?
Well done SGA, you’ve just managed to get on the band wagon.
There are already plenty of NGO s working on waders, rspb , GWCT as well as cairngorm park & snh. They all advocate predator control ALONGSIDE good habitat management and have so for many years! They all carry out or sponsor scientific research and work in partnership.
What do the SGA bring to the table, apart from a rather weak headline (no doubt they have a tame journalist)
What do the SGA know about agriculture?
Because SRUC ( formerly SAC) advocate habitat management, before pred control, they also work in partnership through out Scotland with rspb.
What research do SGA have, other than anecdotal stories of yesterday year. They often mis quote the GWCT Otterburn study, but that is it. One heavily keepered moor!
Looking at the latest BTO Atlas, their doesn’t seem to be any correlation between keepered areas and breeding Waders, there is however quite a strong relationship between less intensive farming areas and good wader productivity.
What do I know, I don’t wear antiquated tweed. I do however have a PhD but that is no substitute for having spent years shooting stuff!
KILL, KILL, KILL – that is all that the S.G.A. and N.G.A. can think of.
“We now have an imbalance in our uplands that needs to be addressed by government…”.
Aye, they’re called grouse moors! FFS, this guy doesn’t have a clue. Another Hogg epistle, filled with misinformation and propaganda, bordering on downright lies.
He then goes on to say “Ground nesting birds such as lapwing, curlew and plover breed up to three times more successfully on grouse moors, due to heather burning and legal predator control by gamekeepers. However, keepers are deeply concerned that numbers are declining in these key areas, too, and the SGA is to dedicate 2014 to highlighting the need for tougher action.”
Then perhaps grouse moor management isn’t that effective for these species after all. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the removal of predators will benefit prey species, but by doing so you are creating the imbalance.
And here’s another legendary quote from the guru of guff;
“The SGA spokesman said a study of the Berwyn Special Protection Area in North Wales, where grouse shooting ceased when it became a National Nature Reserve, showed that lapwing became extinct, golden plover numbers declined from 10 birds to one and curlew declined by 79 per cent.”
If grouse moor management was of such tremendous benefit to waders, can he explain why there were only 10 Golden Plovers in the whole of the Berwyn? It is, after all, a huge area.
It seems that the most dangerous predator, by far, is the human predator with shotgun, gin-trap, leg-trap, poison and the uncanny ability to carry out their killing undetected. What say we ask if these predators can be exterminated first?
Someone has the right idea:
Enjoy!
As they are clearly experts in the field…whats their view of the complete extinction of waders from their lowland farmland habitats? Will they be critical of the farming land managers? Don’t worry I’m not going to wait for any common sense…
Does this mean Golden Plover, Woodcock and Snipe aren’t going to be shot this year, Curlew had to be taken off the Game list when there numbers dropped they were still being shot in large numbers, its no use whinging about predator control if your still going to shoot the breeding stock.
I sometimes wonder if the BTO is sensible in giving figures out on our breeding birds. These idiots will always put their own spin on it, Peregrines have increased, they have moved into our cities and towns and are helping to keep the numbers of feral pigeons down, this is something our local councils had to pay pest control companies to do. This increase is welcomed. Take the trough of Bowland for example of uplands and you will probably be aware that Raptors here have been almost completely exterminate
Plenty of estates in Northern Britain now bereft of raptors – who are these fools going to go after next??
I’ve been watching Autumnwatch this week, and I’ve been interested in the predator-prey relationship between Barn Owls and Starlings.
Combining BTO breeding population figures with the usual SGA/NGO/CA number-crunching techniques, it is now evident that the 4000 pairs of Barn Owls are clearly responsible for the decline of the Starling in the UK. These vile bastards, deceiving the general public with their cute, heart-shaped faces, are all eating at least one Starling every day, equating to 2,920,000 each year. The Starling breeding population is 1.8 million pairs, and at current predation rates, the Starling cannot sustain this onslaught much longer.
Will the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, the National Gamekeepers Organisation and the Countryside Alliance, in partnership with Songbird Survival, now request that Barn Owls be culled?
If they get their way with the buzzards and hawks, I’m sure Barn Owls wouldn’t be too far down the list