who shot the buzzards?

[red bob]

its difficult enough to convince people that airgun shooters and all our various
colleagues in differant gun types etc are on the whole just as responsible more so ina lot of cases when it comes to caring for our envirement and exhibiting a human attitude to nature,but when some total morron shoots
afemale buzzard on the nest then when the male comes to investigate blasts
it out of the sky we face an uphill task .this single act of inhumanity to what is one of the best sights in our skys on a sunny day wheeling and cruising the thermals negates all the fine work done by everyday shooting enthusiasts
who go out of their way to project a sincere and responcible attitude to their sport.my best hope is tha some kind of natural justice will prevail and they will
get all they deserve no mor and certainly no less(im a great believer that these
sorts of people eventualy bring about their own downfall hope it happens very soon)!

[Gwylan]

To watch 10 or 11 buzzards soaring effortlessly on the slopes of the moor is one of nature's greatest sights. There is a pair nesting in the valley below my cottage at the moment. hanging is too good for anyone who shoots a buzzard..!

Gus

[red bob]

you lucky thing ,if i see more than one in our part of sussex its a surprise
.so this incident was all the more gauling as it happnd in the next county.

[bunnybasher]

it's amazing the different densities of thes birds, in wiltshire thay are about as common as sparrows.......same with hares

[Cornish Hunter]

Buzzards are becoming very common in Cornwall. I've seen 7 in a row on top of telegraph poles.

I like to see them but not when I'm out hunting as there presence usually means very few bunnies about.

It's a shame they don't move to the coast and feed on seagulls!!

[Ricard Sweden]

Buzzards tend to be common when they have enough prey to feed on..
Be happy that you have a lot of them, they indicates that you also have a lot of bunnies....

[Bomag]

We have one or two pairs on the estate, they dont cause any real problems with the pheasants.
They are part of the rich tapestry that makes up this great country, I cant understand why people would want to destroy them

[ELMOR FUDD]

i counted 27 buzzards on my shoot 2 years ago and can say that it was an absolute joy to watch them and take time out from pigeon shooting to watch them hunt.
This year iv counted 5
Anyone who shoots a buzzard wants shooting themselfs

[Paddy_SP]

When I lived in the middle of Exeter, we had a pair of peregrines nesting on the local church tower. They successfully reared chicks for several years running. Generally two made it through to fledging, (often a third fell out of the nest and had to be hand-reared). One year a local let it drop that he was going to 'deal with them' as he felt they made too much noise. He was rather surprised when he received a rather blunt warning that any attempt to do so would result in severe injuries to his limbs - especially as it came jointly from a bunch of rather heavy bikers and the local beat copper!

[Mr. Gain]

The protection of birds of prey has certainly made them a common sight today in places where they were unheard of a generation ago.

But rising numbers have led to concerns on the part of many landowners and gamekeepers about their impact on other species.

For example, it's not just squirrels and magpies that are putting singbirds under pressure, but sparrowhawks too - though this is rarely mentioned.

As for buzzards, I was in a field earlier this year that contained the remains of as many as thirty pheasants, all killed over the previous fortnight by a pair of buzzards who had learned that by waiting for them to come out of the cover of the wood to pick up grit by the roadside they could take them as they crossed the meadow in between. Natural behaviour, of course, but tough on the people who had reared the pheasants and invested their time, effort and cash in improving the environment on their shoot for all the other species on it - at the expense of course of foxes, mink, stoats, crows, magpies, squirrels - and, had the law allowed - buzzards. The shoot had applied for permission to kill or remove the buzzards, and presented evidence of the damage being done, but permission was refused, presumably because birds of prey are treated as sacrosanct in this country.

The present procedures by which landowners can obtain a licence to control birds of prey are arguably not sufficient to allow for effective legal management, and this undoubtedly has something to do with the fact that many birds of prey are still killed illegally and by less-than-ideal methods.

Of course, some people simply harbour an unthinking hatred of anything with a hooked bill and will kill birds of prey just for the sake of it, but such people are not the whole picture or the whole story.

I would hate to see any predatory species eradicated in this country, and I think I appreciate the beauty of birds of prey at least as much as I do that of woodpigeons - or game birds for that matter - but that doesn't prevent me from shooting legitimate quarry in the interests of pest control.

It seems to me that the reasons one might have when shooting foxes, for example, and the way one might feel about it, could be applied equally to the control of birds of prey if the law were different. To my mind, the distinction is a legal rather than a moral one. As the law stands of course, any illegal killing is unacceptable.

By the way, I'm sure there are plenty of antis out there who think the people on this bbs should hang for killing fluffy rabbits but just because they think that doesn't make them right.

[red bob]

Yes I Quite Accept Your Points ,i Hunt And Have Worked On The
Land /farms Etc And I Fully Understand When Trying To Make A
Succesful Buisness Out Of Agriculture Any Excess Of Predation
Is A Real Problem Be It A Humble Beetle/fungus/ Or Something As
Fabulous As A Buzzard Or Osprey Another That Has Angerd The
Fish Rearing Buisness.we Have To Accept Though We Often Create Unnatural Hot Spots Of Prey ,nature With Its Amazing
Capability To Produce A Predator Comes Up With Such Wonders.
Disbite Seeing What Nature Is Capable Of Eg. Any One Who Has Been
Th Victim Of A Bad Fox Attack On A Chicken Farm Etc As I Have ,
We Must Still Find Room For These Creatures,they Did Come First
And The Were A Natural Answer To Another Sort Of Problem.
The Other Point You Make About Those Nieve Liberal Minded People
Who Only Se Nature In Terms Of Fluffy Rabbits And Pretty Birds
Are Just As Dangerous As Those Who Go To The Extreme Of Illegal
Shooting /gasing Or As I Have Discoverd Over Weedcontroling Using
Over Strength Weedkillers To Control High Rabbit Consentrations
So If There Is No Mixi Or Low Fox Populations Onyour Shoot And The Rabbit Numbers Dive Take Care If You Eat Your Quarry.cheers Red Bob (nice To Read Such A Complete Answer You Make Some Valid Points Wish We Were Able To Come Up With An Eqully Positive Solution Before We Distroy Our Envirement Or Ourselves Or Are They Intrinsicly Linked Time Will Tell.?

[RFC]

I am curious about the stories of buzzzards taking live animals. I understood that buzzards, vultures and condors where carrion eaters only. Apparently that is not the case.

[rarms]

Red Bob, where abouts are you from cos round my way there are quite a few Buzzards and we dont seem to be too far apart!

[Gwylan]

I am curious about the stories of buzzzards taking live animals. I understood that buzzards, vultures and condors where carrion eaters only. Apparently that is not the case.

The British buzzard, like other members of the hawk family, hunt and kill live prey. They will eat carrion, or even road kill, but only if undisturbed by traffic.
I think the American buzzard is a different bird.

Gus

[sphexx]

Just supporting every word written by Mr Gain.