under the moon Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 Are the Greylag only 18 months ago I had to write to NE in regard to their proposal placing Mallard and Greylag on the general licence, which Basc council supported. My organisations support of the NE proposal was in direct conflict with my views and others. By the way guys hope you have shot a few more this past season, Who negotiates these streamlined "standard" five year consents with NE. As a cash strapped, costal path organisation, there are projects requiring funding, which are parallel with wildfowling interests, why Basc and local level cannot support / complete, labour, funding, projects of interest, we could also perch on their shoulders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler23 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 You lads that have plague proportions of greylag in your area, what sort of numbers are you talking about? Around here south cumbria, we have few groups ,but even if they all went together they would only be 400ish(maybe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) Smiler we are talking about 8-10,000 in Norfolk. The big problem with feral geese , both greylag and canada is that they do not migrate so are present during the vital months of the growing season. During the winter a thousand or two pinkfeet do little harm to a crop such as winter wheat as long as the ground does not become too wet. By grazing the wheat they cause the shoots to tiller producing two or more fresh shoots and may increase the yeald ( in the past some farmers would put sheep onto the crop for short periods to do the same job). However grazing in the spring growing season will badly knock back the crop and result in loss of yeald. The situation can become worst in mid summer when the corn is in ear. In addition the grazing can become concentrated in a few waterside fields when the birds are flightless in the moult. Feral geese are also a problem for other wildlife in the summer. While they are flightless they will graze heavily waterside plants such as reds opening the banks up to erosion and with the loss of bankside cover other birds will suffer from lack of nesting cover , ie reed warblers or lack of insects ( that would have lived in the reeds ) reducing the food available to duck and other birds. Even on a sizable lake 100 greylag can have a serious impact on the lake environment. On a reserve I am involved with several hundred greylag roosting on the lake sand barrs have resulted in the trampling nests and desertion of nesting waders. While I think greylag numbers are still managable without the need of putting them on the pest list we now have around 80,000 feral greylag in the UK , if that number increases much more things will start to get out of hand. The answer at the moment is in our own hands- shoot a few more geese- but if we do nothing the solution will be taken out of our own hands and DEFRA will impose a solution- putting them on the pest list and organisations such at the Broads Authority will impliment mass culls. So next season shoot a few more to give to friends, an extra one or two for christmas and easter lunch and for any other reason you can think of , but keep it within reason and insure the birds are not wasted. Edited March 23, 2016 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klammer Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 When the lady from NE spoke on the consents issue, I don't think she expected such a reaction as was given to her. Fair play to the members for directing their venom at NE rather than the lady. Although some of her answers were vague and non-committal. A quick calculation from me whilst listening to her, would have resulted in members of my club having two and half days shooting over 5 years, that is if I heard right and she actually said 500 visits over 5 years (can't be 100% sure of that). Obviously this wouldn't attract anyone to a club (maybe death by a thousand cuts?), but I also overheard a member from a different club saying that his club would welcome that as it is more than they presently have consent for, but probably have far fewer members, (I can't remember which club he was from). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler23 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Thanks for reply anser2, I can see why they cause a problem for you in them size groups, if I send you my address, you could round a few thousand up and send them to us up this way haha, me and a mate are getting exited at the minute as all the local geese seem to be paired up and hopefully have a successful season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reabrook Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 When the lady from NE spoke on the consents issue, I don't think she expected such a reaction as was given to her. Fair play to the members for directing their venom at NE rather than the lady. Although some of her answers were vague and non-committal. A quick calculation from me whilst listening to her, would have resulted in members of my club having two and half days shooting over 5 years, that is if I heard right and she actually said 500 visits over 5 years (can't be 100% sure of that). Obviously this wouldn't attract anyone to a club (maybe death by a thousand cuts?), but I also overheard a member from a different club saying that his club would welcome that as it is more than they presently have consent for, but probably have far fewer members, (I can't remember which club he was from). The 100 visits X 5 Years was merely a ball park figure to make things easy to understand. She wasn't suggesting that every Club be allocated that number of visits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 When the lady from NE spoke on the consents issue, I don't think she expected such a reaction as was given to her. Fair play to the members for directing their venom at NE rather than the lady. Although some of her answers were vague and non-committal. A quick calculation from me whilst listening to her, would have resulted in members of my club having two and half days shooting over 5 years, that is if I heard right and she actually said 500 visits over 5 years (can't be 100% sure of that). Obviously this wouldn't attract anyone to a club (maybe death by a thousand cuts?), but I also overheard a member from a different club saying that his club would welcome that as it is more than they presently have consent for, but probably have far fewer members, (I can't remember which club he was from). the figure was just an example as she said....and as you said, one club that had already had visit limits imposed, it was more workable... FOR THEM personally i don't agree with visit limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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