Penelope Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 https://countrysquire.co.uk/2018/11/01/do-buzzards-eat-partridge/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 That's a very interesting read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 1 hour ago, Cranfield said: That's a very interesting read. +1 and my own "Anecdotal Evidence " from personal observation is that carrion crows have become considerably and increasingly less wary over the last 10 years as their numbers increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 (edited) How apt I had posted other day about lack of birds due to intense farming practices. Being a child of the seventies and teen during the eighties I noticed the decline being out in the fields and woods most of the time. Only birds that seem to have grown in numbers a big way is corvids and buzzards. Even my wife when driving back from the lakes said there are a lot of them buzzards around. Come Harvest time as kids we.usrd to watch and try and catch all manner of animals fleeing the combines. Can't remember last time a saw a harvest mouse nest. Very good read thanks for posting. Edited August 21, 2019 by figgy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 (edited) very interesting graphs........i do remember in the very early 70's....cleaning out rookeries with half a dozen lads with "farm cartridges"...... i see very few crows around here ...but there are 3 big flocks of rooks....and as far as i know nobody has shot them...(well shot at them) Edited August 21, 2019 by ditchman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 Who would have thought it, predators increase and pray decrease! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnphilip Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 32 minutes ago, ditchman said: very interesting graphs........i do remember in the very early 70's....cleaning out rookeries with half a dozen lads with "farm cartridges"...... i see very few crows around here ...but there are 3 big flocks of rooks....and as far as i know nobody has shot them...(well shot at them) My cousin Tom , who is in his 80s now farms in the lake district and said many years ago farmers did not mind the Rooks as they would take the leather jackets , before they damaged the wheat and barley crops . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 17 minutes ago, johnphilip said: My cousin Tom , who is in his 80s now farms in the lake district and said many years ago farmers did not mind the Rooks as they would take the leather jackets , before they damaged the wheat and barley crops . yes i have heard that to..............i also remember sitting in class at Agricultural college watching a massive flock of rooks taking seed out of the ground as quick as it was put in .....and the field had to be re-drilled...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 Excellent read, thank you for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 Fabulous article. It’s just a pity it won’t be shouted loudly from a similar platform as that which claims the contrary. I recall as a kid that seeing a Buzzards or Magpie was something quite special, now it’s the norm as opposed to the exception. On one of the farms on our rough shoot there is a smallish wood; no more than two acres. It harbours and sustains four Buzzards and has done for quite a few years now. When I used to work regularly in Musselburgh, I was woken to the sound of Magpies, rather than birdsong, each morning. On the junction on the edge of town, I once counted 11 magpies in one field, and 27 Magpies in total in one short trip from Musselburgh to Tranent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 Ten years ago buzzards were hammering our partridge numbers and we released a 50 50 mix reds and greys. Caught a buzzard on a warm partridge a number of times mid day. There again according to some numpty bird hugger in Lancashire buzzards do not take live rabbits. I told him to get out in the countryside more as I had seen a buzzard sit and select one from half a dozen below the tree (I was in an adjacent high seat) a short sharp squeal and Mr/Mrs Buzzard flew off with a nice plump half grown rabbit, but this guy in Lancashire vertually called me a liar. You cannot win against this stone wall attitude. My wood is almost grey squirrel and magpie free but the feeders in there are heaving with a mix of small birds and cost me a fortune in peanuts but more than worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratchers Posted August 21, 2019 Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 Same around here, hardly ever saw buzzards,magpies and I recall seeing just one jay when I was a kid, now there are plenty. At least they hoover up the squirrels I shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 Very interesting read and if his data is accurate then the correlation between increase of Buzzard v's decrease of Grey Partridge is quite something. Locally for me the explosion of Magpie numbers is off the scale. I back onto farmland and have stayed here for 22 years, we always seen Magpies about but over the last 5-8 years there has been a huge rise in numbers. I work a rotation of 4weeks on 4 weeks off and on my last trip home I woke up on the first morning to find 12 magpies in the back garden getting tore into the fat balls and feed I had out for the birds!! in the following 3 weeks I took 21 magpies via my Larsen trap, I took 8 the trip before, that's nearly 30 magpies from a single back garden. I appreciate that the very nature of the Larsen means I am pulling magpies in from surrounding areas, but none the less I have never had numbers close to this in the last 4 years of using the Larsen trap. We also have good numbers of buzzard around but to buck the trend in the above article, the greys on my local farm have been doing very well over the last 3 or 4 years! Slowly building in numbers which is great to see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 hello, a few years back a shoot in the Vale put down 1000 partridge, at the time where buzzards had increased in numbers, hence very few partridge were shot or even seen that season, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibble Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 The increase in Magpie numbers in London over the past 20 is years enormous I noticed it because of some strange behavior. Part of my work involves driving around with Colleagues, one current Colleague and one Ex-Colleague do a funny little "Saluting Mr Magpie" routine everytime they see one. Around the outer London suburbs this normally happens more than twice an hour and the One for Sorrow, two for Joy rhyme needs extending up to at least 12. The "Saluting Mr Magpie" routine bugs me, the current Colleague just does a funny little salute, Ex-Colleague did the salute and turned round on the spot. I have tried to "cure" them of the superstition by pointing out Magpies and can spot one every couple of minutes in some areas (Enfield). I once had my Salute and Pirouette Colleague spinning every 10 meters on a 100m walk (I also brought my Daughters cuddly soft toy magpie to taunt him with, this would now be banned under our companies be nice to everyone policy). To my mind magpies must have been less common when this superstition started, back when the Cockney Sparrow was the London Bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 1 hour ago, Dibble said: To my mind magpies must have been less common when this superstition started, back when the Cockney Sparrow was the London Bird. It is the "fluffy Birders" that feed them through the lean months and "like to see them" in the garden, at the same time complaining about the lack of songbirds due to "nasty farmers" that is partially if not mainly responsible for increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 https://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/corvid-research-project Songbird Survival findings. According to WJ magpies etc dont have an impact on songbirds ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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