Lost wildlife, farming and predator control: our letter to The Times

Lost wildlife You may have seen Andrew Gilruth’s letter published in The Times on Thursday, 15 September 2016.

Sir,

Perhaps we should review what we ask farmers to do before we blame them for the loss of wildlife (Sep 14). Each year the government invests £6million in schemes to help farmland wildlife; but they don't, yet, include the control of predators. This is unfortunate because we know that the breeding success of some of our most threatened species can be increased threefold where fox and crow numbers are reduced. Our lapwings, which have declined by 80 per cent since 1960, might choose to blame their demise on those who avoid this fact

Andrew Gilruth
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust

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Comments

Predator control

at 20:49 on 21/09/2016 by Jeffrey brown

I agree with a lot of the comments made about this subject.the buzzard should be nearly at the top of the list to control and soon the red kite too.the numbers of these birds getting around will devastate any wild life

Predator control

at 19:44 on 20/09/2016 by Graham Denny

Andrew you have got it right, without vermin control their is no balance and that is fact that should not be questioned ! Any body with thriving populations of birds with wide diversity studies and controls the predators that are causing the damage the eyes of farmers,keepers and gillies warden more land than the Rspb will ever have thankfully and most of the so called reserves are keepered on all sides and even now the the Rspb have admitted online their hit list of foxes ,gulls and corvids ! HAVE THEY FINALLY GOT IT ? Sorry Mr Burnand how many breeding birds have you got on your reserve bet you haven't got breeding turtle doves if you think magpies chase squirrels lol lol lol are you friendly with mr packham !

Lapwings

at 13:28 on 20/09/2016 by Anthony Burnand

Dear Andrew I am sure I wont change your mind in what I am about to say, as peoples beliefs are often set in stone. While I agree that a fox can have a devastating effect on ground nesting birds, their responsibility falls into obscurity when we look at two things. Changes in farming practices, and climate change. Farms often change to arable farming, draining that bottom field which has a poor yield and floods regularly, more so lately due to Climate change. People raising poults should understand nature as I do. Birds do not lay 10 - 15 eggs so that farmers yields remain high, The hen bird hasn't got the wherewithal to stay vigilant with so many young, indeed they expect to lose a third, but you don't expect to, even though you can see them dotted along the highway as road kills. The fox isn't protected anyway, so nothing to stop you shooting an errant fox. But let us not forget, foxes keep rabbits down, a nesting magpie chases off squirrels rats weasels and stoats, Buzzards take rabbits and Squirrels, what we are talking about is a natural balance. Man including farmers have wrecked that balance, hedges ripped out, deforestation for crops, a lack of drainage and pond maintenance, " Until 2012" The rain forest half gone, not enough tree protected, and very poor import controls on both flora and fauna. It was greed that brought us BSE, TB, Mink, and devastating tree diseases.

predation on little owls

at 20:30 on 19/09/2016 by Anthony Casswell

I owned and worked a 75 acre farm in Shropshire for 20 years. There was a special hollow apple tree where the little owls bred every year.With the increase in buzzard numbers (due to being protected) the little owl success declined rapidly.they used to hatch and rear maybe 3 or 4 young which used to sit out on the branches untill taken by a buzzard,this happened every year latterly. The RSPB policy on spacies balance and predator control is totally rediculous, It must have been cooked up by desk bound naturalists who have limited knowledge of the real countryside.

The Times predator control requirement

at 14:44 on 15/09/2016 by paul Smith

Well done Andrew! This is long overdue. The research that the Game Conservancy / GWCT has conducted over the years has proved beyond doubt that the Dick Potts three legged stool analogy is scientifically sound. As a retired gamekeeper this is simply stating the bleedin' obvious. I have been banging on for years that appropriate predator control should be included as a vital requirement in any stewardship scheme. In the 1978 NCC/ Colvin, Old Hall Marshes agreement, a definite stipulation that certain species (fox, crow, magpie, brown rat, jay) must be "controlled as pests", so a president was set years ago. Why was has this policy stopped? If we honestly want to see the balanced, vibrant countryside that we once knew the appeasement of animal activists should have no part in it. The truth should be told and the devil shamed.

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