I went off on one this morning and here is the reply

[Spaniel]

Hi Ian

 

Thank you for your reply and your interest.

 

In the research referred to, the birds were tested at a time when the deceased were most likely to have been in this country for some time.

 

We are transparent about the current restrictions on the use of lead shot and appreciative of the efforts of those who comply with the restrictions. Sadly previous research shows compliance is mixed.

 

I am certainly going to reflect in our future public statements that we are hoping to encourage a move away from lead shot for all shooters, in recognition that a significant number already use other shot due to either choice or legislation. I appreciate we have to respect that shooters are often carers of the countryside – as supporters like yourself demonstrate – and that a full range of information will help people who shoot to make your own choices where legislation doesn’t apply. There are more details published by WWT at this link http://www.wwt.org.uk/issues/

 

Thank you again for your email, this type of feedback does help us to appreciate the full range of views.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

Peter Morris

Head of PR/Campaigns

 

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)

Slimbridge, Glos GL2 7BT, UK

 

T 01453 891179

F 01453 890827

E peter.morris@wwt.org.uk

 

From: ian cowlishaw [mailto:labmax@hotmail.co.uk]

Sent: 12 October 2012 11:28

To: Webmaster

Subject: RE: Lead is poisoning our birds - take action and sign our petition! Plus, events at WWT Slimbridge

 

 

Interesting statements being made here

but have you also informed your members that you can not identify where and when these birds are picking up the lead shot...i.e which country.

Also have you also informed your members that lead shot is banned on the foreshores of england and wales and Wildfowlers like myself who also support the Wetland trust actually use steel shot...

 

I await your reply

Many Thanks

Ian Cowlishaw

 

Subject: Lead is poisoning our birds - take action and sign our petition! Plus, events at WWT Slimbridge

From: webmaster@wwt.org.uk

To: labmax@hotmail.co.uk

Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2012 10:20:24 +0000

 

http://157.55.0.139/...64a9&oneredir=1

 

visit wwt.org.uk | view online

 

Help stop lead poisoning our birds

 

 

A new study by WWT has shown that one in ten waterbird deaths in the UK are caused by lead poisoning, and one in three birds is living with symptoms.

 

The birds are ingesting lead - mainly in the form of used gunshot - mistaking the shot for the grit they eat to aid the digestion of food within their gizzards.

 

WWT has been researching this problem for decades, and are now calling for action to resolve an issue that has a simple solution. Other countries have phased out the use of lead shot, and so can we.

 

[Spaniel]

well this seems to be explained alot better this time around

Exhausted, hungry and almost here

Watch the video that explains why these

migrant swans need your help...

These birds are illegally shot at before they reach our shores

Any day now, we expect to see the first weary and hungry Bewick's swans arrive at the safety of our centres. After their exhausting 2,500 mile migration we provide a safe haven for these determined creatures to rebuild their strength. But unfortunately tiredness and hunger are far from their only problem. Horrifically, these birds are illegally shot at before they reach our shores.

 

Almost one in four have shotgun pellets in their bodies and these are the ones that survive!

 

In just ten years, the Bewick's swan population has declined by more than a quarter. And this shocking trend is continuing. Illegal shooting, collisions with power lines, and the sheer magnitude of their flight in freezing conditions means it is vital that we do all we can to protect these remarkable birds.

[wildfowlingmad]

Am i missing something or does this video imply that lead doesnt kill birds?? The video says 23% have lead in them and yet they have not died of lead poisoning? I understand that this is terrible and everything that protected birds are being shot but thought i'd piont that out too.

[poontang]

WWT seem to be the masters of propaganda when it comes to lead shot and wildfowl.

 

I'd like to see independently documented, photographic/video/x-ray evidence of every Bewick's Swan they claim is carrying lead shot.

 

It really is that simple.

 

I don't want to see graphs, I don't want to hear opinions I want to see PROOF.

 

They're making fairly hefty claims, so I'm sure they can back it up? Or can they? If some of their other recent claims are anything to go by I wouldn't be so sure.

Of course what they HAVE managed to do is once again is portray shooters as the villains of the peace, whilst garnering public support, and no doubt new membership subscriptions, on the back of unsubstantiated claims.

 

It's time the WWT put up or shut up!!

[Grandalf]

What will a total lead ban in Britain do for these swans?

Absolutely nothing - we don't shoot swans in Britain.

In more than 50 years of fowling I only know of one incidence of a shot swan on a wildfowling marsh.

We found it on the wash - It had been shot - it was dead. (and fairly decayed). Year about 1970.

Who shot it, where and why I have no idea.

We occasionaly read in the papers of swans on town ponds being shot but this is not by fowlers or the general shooting community. It is yobos who need throwing in jail.

The film clip is just an emotive fund raiser.

As the man says - Show us the proof.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Grandalf

[Whitebridges]

If the birds have picked up any lead shot in this country It's may well have been fired out on the marshes by Sir Peter Scott who founded the WWT.

 

These people really **** me off. Having Job Titles like "Head of PR/Campaigns" say's it all really.

[al4x]

unfortunately charities are now big business its all about making the pounds roll in and you do that by marketing. In this case their marketing is about swan shooting and how much help they need, what you get for your money is a load of beaureacracy and people in jobs raising money so the organisation can get larger. as it gets larger so the percentage spent on their original remit seems to go down. I see it in my line of work we move so many things to events for companies and going to events like Fundraising in a recession and various similar ones on getting people to part from their money in the name of charity is big business.

In this case it is sensationalism and its in their big agenda to stop shooting and really the shooting organisations need to stop working with them and the shooting community as a whole needs to withdraw its support.

[Catweazle]

I'm not a wildfowler, so please excuse me if these are stupid questions.

 

1) Lead is dense, surely old lead would have sunk to a depth that the birds wouldn't still be digging it up ?

 

2) Has anybody sieved a few buckets of silt from the surface to see if the above is true ?

 

3) Assuming that the birds crops only need a certain amount of grit, has anybody considered sprinkling some around on the surface to prevent the birds from ingesting lead shot ?

[poontang]

 

The film clip is just an emotive fund raiser.

As the man says - Show us the proof.

 

A fund raiser is exactly what it is, aimed at the birding community and an attempt to raise membership.

 

How many twitchers are going to question the WWT's 'findings' before parting with their hard earned cash? Very few, if any I should think.

How many swans have they x-rayed to come up with the results?

 

Although they have stated that the birds have been shot on their migratory flyways, and haven't pointed the finger directly at UK shooters, they have once again managed to make us feel 'guilty by association'.

[anser2]

Its true lead soon sinks into the mud , but most mudflats and river beds are in a constant change and an alteration in the tidal currents may expose lead shot years ago. This happened several years ago when a clay club had some shooting over the sea and the tide washed the lead a long distance down the coast and deposited in a small bank ( like a sand bar ) and whooper swans found it resulting in a lot of deaths . A few years ago 100s of greylag geese died of lead posioning when the lake they were roosting on had its water level lowered and deep settled lead became wintin reach. I have caught a number of tufted duck and pochard with lead posioning ( while duck ringing ) taken over a new gravel pit with a hard bottom so the pellets lay exposed on the pit bottom.

 

Scattering grit has been tried in the US with some success , but the lead is still there and in time the duck still find it. One swallowed lead pellet will kill a mallard in 5-7 days.

Edited October 26, 2012 by anser2

[beesley121]

 

Scattering grit has been tried in the US with some success , but the lead is still there and in time the duck still find it. One swallowed lead pellet will kill a mallard in 5-7 days.

 

i didnt know that it would kill a mallard that quick!! what would be the result to a human?

 

things like this make me think a little. Even though I shoot and eat what i shoot, im always wary that the quarry i have killed may have eaten something toxic that may inturn do me damge. As they are wild creatures, we cannot stop then from eating or wading were they like. I live near the river mersey whichis apparently getting cleaner but its always in the back of my mind that most of the quarry i eat lived on one of the dirtiest rivers in britian

[kent]

i didnt know that it would kill a mallard that quick!! what would be the result to a human?

 

things like this make me think a little. Even though I shoot and eat what i shoot, im always wary that the quarry i have killed may have eaten something toxic that may inturn do me damge. As they are wild creatures, we cannot stop then from eating or wading were they like. I live near the river mersey whichis apparently getting cleaner but its always in the back of my mind that most of the quarry i eat lived on one of the dirtiest rivers in britian

 

very little a mallard although big for a duck is tiny compared to a human, many of us walk around with pellets etc stuck in our bodies unless its an easy remove the doctors will leave them. we drink water fed via lead pipe sections in most of our older housing stock. when i was growing up course fishing it was common practice to bite lead split shot. your more likely to get lead poisoning sanding old paintwork than eating quarry shot with lead imo. lord knows how many number 6 many of us have swallowed unknown over the years

[Terry P]

Very interesting article about the lead content of food stuff in this months basc mag, i think were alright to eat wildfowl and no matter what the lead content of chocolate i'd rather die that give it up lol.

[nic]

So the European Food agency did a report on lead in various foodstuffs

game was included but was so far down the list for lead content, it fell below chocolate, and water was 40 times higher. cereal crops such as barley and wheat were 60 times higher..........no just remind me, what do they feed the birds at Slimbridge Caeverlock, martin mere etc....... whos adding lead into the birds???

 

also in response to lead in waterways and silt, its only been 20 years since the smaller sizes were stopped being used by fishermen...for the same reason as given now, so if it didnt work for them....

Edited October 28, 2012 by nic

[wildfowler.250]

WWT seem to be the masters of propaganda when it comes to lead shot and wildfowl.

 

I'd like to see independently documented, photographic/video/x-ray evidence of every Bewick's Swan they claim is carrying lead shot.

 

It really is that simple.

 

I don't want to see graphs, I don't want to hear opinions I want to see PROOF.

 

They're making fairly hefty claims, so I'm sure they can back it up? Or can they? If some of their other recent claims are anything to go by I wouldn't be so sure.

Of course what they HAVE managed to do is once again is portray shooters as the villains of the peace, whilst garnering public support, and no doubt new membership subscriptions, on the back of unsubstantiated claims.

 

It's time the WWT put up or shut up!!

 

I agree!

 

 

Nice word choice they use as well, 'weary', 'exhausting', 'haven', 'WE do all that WE can'.

 

 

BASC and co. could do with adding more promo videos on the net to combat this sort of thing,(we always seem to be on the back foot with these things). And we should be using all the same tricks/emotive language that people like LACS/WWT indulge in all the time.

 

 

I personally think the whole thing is bull but it would win the general public over in a second.

[Scully]

WWT seem to be the masters of propaganda when it comes to lead shot and wildfowl.

 

I'd like to see independently documented, photographic/video/x-ray evidence of every Bewick's Swan they claim is carrying lead shot.

 

It really is that simple.

 

I don't want to see graphs, I don't want to hear opinions I want to see PROOF.

 

They're making fairly hefty claims, so I'm sure they can back it up? Or can they? If some of their other recent claims are anything to go by I wouldn't be so sure.

Of course what they HAVE managed to do is once again is portray shooters as the villains of the peace, whilst garnering public support, and no doubt new membership subscriptions, on the back of unsubstantiated claims.

 

It's time the WWT put up or shut up!!

I agree with all the above,but know very little about Bewicks swans.Are they protected on a world wide basis in order for them to have been 'shot illegally' before they even reach our shores?

Also,how do they(the WWT)know that one in four birds has lead pellets in them?Perhaps it's time for us to bombard not just WHSmiths with e-mails,but the WWT also,with demands for evidence for the claims they make,and inform them of a few REAL facts rearding the lead shot issue and it's impact(or lack of it)on the enviroment and human health.