Letter in my Local Paper

[WeeDodger]

anyone care to reply


letters@thecourier.co.uk

Why protect sparrowhawks?


Sir,—We read so much about the diminishing numbers of songbirds nowadays and all the “various” reasons for it from the RSPB(of prey), who regard themselves as the only authority on the subject and they will listen to no-one else with a little common sense.

They tell you that they look after the interests of ALL birds. Slightly misleading, I say, due to the fact that they protect sparrowhawks, or is it just possible that none of them know about these “murderers”?

Anyone living in the countryside can tell you about this thing which appears from nowhere, scattering all birds in the area. It catches one and proceeds to tear it to bits (I did not miss anything; it does NOT kill its prey, that dies slowly) the rest are scared stiff and hide in the most unusual places. Any young they are rearing are left to die. This procedure can happen all day long from daylight to darkness as this predator needs half a dozen chaffinch-sized birds per day to live—never mind about when it has young.

Two or three weeks ago we had a flock of longtailed tits appear, the first I have ever seen in this area. There were about 30, and they came every day to the feeders in the garden. The other day I saw there were about 10 left. So much for feeding the birds in your garden to keep up numbers.

By the way, the robins have disappeared, half the blue tits and great tits have gone,and the blackbirds have vanished.

Visit the RSPB site and you will be offered a free bird box among other things. Ironical, is it not?

There is an awful lot more to this story, but it would be interesting to hear a reason for keeping these “murderers” protected from someone who knows something that I don’t.

Donald Dochard.
East Cottage,
Mains of Murie,
Errol.

[MickeyDredd]

Dear Mr Dochard

Do you have a cat? :wink:

ps There is a huge long-tailed tit breeding colony within a couple of miles of your house, put the Courier down and go for a walk sometime......:lol:

[Hawkwing]

mike your right the domestic cat always gets overlooked,biggest killer of all small birds.

[Boby]

Loss of habitat is the number one factor in reducing passerine numbers.

predation / persecution is a poor second.

[Plum]

Its the food chain.the song birds where i live are in high numbers.its this bad weather that is killing them around here
Cheers
Matt

[Gozzhawk]

no point in replying , these 'blinkered' viewpoints will be held even in the face of sound scientific reasoning.
Seems funny that even RSPB members think they are pro Sparrowhawk, he misses the point , THAT is the irony!!!

[Ben C]

Dear Mr Dorchard,

I am founding member of 'lets protect the zebra'...it is my heartfelt belief that all Lions should be culled, as every time I look out my window the zebras that were once prevalent have now hidden from view.

[Dave G]

DEAR MR DORCHARD (MUPPET) as you know nothing about nature and survival close your blinds and watch telly ;)

[Kennelre]

The man's letter is over emotive and anthropomorphic.
How can anyone describe the natural behaviour of any predator as 'murder'?
His comment...'the rest are scared stiff and hide in the most unusual places' is pure Beatrix Potter.

It's interesting that he can't appreciate the beauty of a creature which scythes through his garden with such consummate grace and skill. Presumably it's because it threatens his personal notion of how the world should be arranged. I believe the most renowned of the world's Dictator's felt/feel similarly.


...Rene.

[Ben C]

This procedure can happen all day long from daylight to darkness as this predator needs half a dozen chaffinch-sized birds per day to live.

AWESOME SPARROWHAWK I bet some of those fligths were mega..........:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Paul64]

I do believe that the number of wild bop has increased dramatically though.

too many cats where I am aswell, I can't keep the things out of my garden - have started calling the garden 'cat c**p corner' :twisted:

I like all birds but what would be interesting to hear on this forum is how many falconers or bop owners help other species out.

I am a firm believer in 'putting back what I take out'. Although I don't hunt I still feed birds,put up nesting boxes etc.

[Dave G]

I do believe that the number of wild bop has increased dramatically though.

too many cats where I am aswell, I can't keep the things out of my garden - have started calling the garden 'cat c**p corner' :twisted:

I like all birds but what would be interesting to hear on this forum is how many falconers or bop owners help other species out.

I am a firm believer in 'putting back what I take out'. Although I don't hunt I still feed birds,put up nesting boxes etc.

me to feed the birds put up nest boxes and keep the cat population down to help the birds ;)

[BlueBoy]

I have nest boxes in my garden, which are used every year, ive kept the hedges, (which my neighbour wants to cut down and replace with a fence) theres normaly at least 2 blackbirds and others nest every year, plus i have hawthorn which is horrible to look after, were the house sparrows get protection from the sparrowhawks. Squirells also raid the nests too.

[Gem1304]

I love having song birds in the garden, but i'd also love to see a sparrowhawk take one right outside my window! It's nature at its best.

People cannot just pick and choose which bits of nature they want to see. You need all aspects of it to fully appreciate it!

And for the record, I have a cat. But she doesn't go out. Problem solved :)

Gem x

[Hobby]

Its Ironic that the chap provides feeders in his garden which is like creating a dinner plate for sparrowhawks.
My neighbour,who has moved from the town has put up many feeders which has delighted me as I frequently now see the resident sparrowhawk stalking the area and sometimes actually siting on their bird table.

[Will K]

Ive spent a bit of time in the vets recently as i had my GSP spayed & every time i was in there, there must have been half a dozen cat owners with cats in baskets all seeing the vet!
Now i was not in there for a great deal of time each time, but this gave me an idea of how very popular the cat is as a pet in this country now & they have a go @ increasing numbers of wild Sparrowhawks!


Cats kill for fun, not birds of prey!!!

Ooh some people just aint got a clue. :rolleyes:

[Hobby]

I do believe that the number of wild bop has increased dramatically though.

too many cats where I am aswell, I can't keep the things out of my garden - have started calling the garden 'cat c**p corner' :twisted:

I like all birds but what would be interesting to hear on this forum is how many falconers or bop owners help other species out.

I am a firm believer in 'putting back what I take out'. Although I don't hunt I still feed birds,put up nesting boxes etc.
The increase in any natural predator is directly related[generally] to available quarry,as such predators cannot wipe out its quarry base ,because the less of them around the harder they are to catch and the less successful they become......Regarding Conservation,I would say I am,and I guess probably all traditional falconers are conservationists first and Falconers second.
Without our wonderful environment and the creatures within how could we enjoy falconry.The best falconers I know,are great to spend time in the field with because they know alot about and enjoy natural history!

[Hardcore Hawker]

I have just been reading the White tailed sea eagle thread! i hope this chap does not have a pond and live in Norfolk:lol:

[Dave G]

I have just been reading the White tailed sea eagle thread! i hope this chap does not have a pond and live in Norfolk:lol:

pmsl ;)

[Yarak_Eric]

The increase in any natural predator is directly related[generally] to available quarry,as such predators cannot wipe out its quarry base ,because the less of them around the harder they are to catch and the less successful they become......Regarding Conservation,I would say I am,and I guess probably all traditional falconers are conservationists first and Falconers second.
Without our wonderful environment and the creatures within how could we enjoy falconry.The best falconers I know,are great to spend time in the field with because they know alot about and enjoy natural history!

Very well said mate. Bravo!:supz:

[Will K]

I have just been reading the White tailed sea eagle thread! i hope this chap does not have a pond and live in Norfolk:lol:

Lol... :lol: Good one Steve!

If they ever get back here we'll have to wait & see, but it'd be excellent to see them flying overhead..... :supz:

[David Rampling]

We used to get a lot of this rubbish in our paper too. And I believe its up to us hawk lovers to reply when the paper is local. Use an inteligent response ( some of the postings on here would do nicely) and always reply.

These letters sometimes escalate for a week or two, then I have found the public back the hawks after basic ecology is explained to them. The real danger is that joe public believes what he reads in black and white. An inteligent response help to counter balence this nonesense. Without it, more peoole would believe it.

[Sean D]

Its a shame he didn't leave his email address

[MattSpar]

I say, "Very well done" to Mr Dorchard for his excellent and well researched insight into sparrowhawk behaviour. If only more people would bother to present such well balanced, unbiased and illuminating literature, we'd all be very much the wiser.

I really feel as if the scales have fallen, at last, from my shortsighted eyes thanks to Mr Dorchard. In fact, I don't believe he goes far enough, not by a long chalk...

Should we not cull blackbird numbers, destroy every song thrush nest we find, and organise robin shoots on a regular basis lest these murdering passerines bring the earthworm to extinction?

Act now, say I, do lumbricus terrestris a favour. Start each day with a little songbird annihilation!

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

i always feel angry when i read those kind of things, i used to read cage and aviary mag regularly and these kind of "articles" were regular recurring themes.

now i just laugh.....

but still, a polite, slightly sarcastic, but informative letter may be in order....

[Dave Johnson]

The reason that mr dochard is only seeing 10 long tailed tits instead of the 30 he saw a couple of weeks ago,is simply because they are pairing up and the winter flock is dispersing.The blue/great tits are all checking out the nest boxes in my garden dispite there being 7 inches of snow outside.These people know nothing about there local birdlife.Dave

[Dirtwinger]

Back in the eighties I got a phonecall from a woman with a similar view about sparrowhawks, she said they were killing all the blackbirds in her garden. I tried to explain about the food chain and apex predators, how predation kept prey populations healthy etc. She would have non of it and offered to pop by on the way home and talk to her personally.
I was talking to her in her back garden and making some headway using logic and biological facts then it happened.
A female spar came over the fence and grabbed a blackbird off the lawn and kept going. Its mate flew after the spar scolding and the spar rolled over and plucked him out of the air too. As the spar dissapeared with two blackbirds in its feet, the woman screamed at me "see, see I told you". Sometimes you just cant win, hell of a handy spar though.:cool:

And dont get me started on ****in cats! Dirtwinger

[Yarak_Eric]

Back in the eighties I got a phonecall from a woman with a similar view about sparrowhawks, she said they were killing all the blackbirds in her garden. I tried to explain about the food chain and apex predators, how predation kept prey populations healthy etc. She would have non of it and offered to pop by on the way home and talk to her personally.
I was talking to her in her back garden and making some headway using logic and biological facts then it happened.
A female spar came over the fence and grabbed a blackbird off the lawn and kept going. Its mate flew after the spar scolding and the spar rolled over and plucked him out of the air too. As the spar dissapeared with two blackbirds in its feet, the woman screamed at me "see, see I told you". Sometimes you just cant win, hell of a handy spar though.:cool:

And dont get me started on ****in cats! Dirtwinger

That'd been worth every bit. I think I woulda had a bit of a chuckle and probably been escorted off of the property by the little ole lady! :supz:

[PenelopeP]

I regularly see Mr Musket here. In fact he whipped through the middle of the houses on saturday after the songbirds. ROCK ON MR MUSKET I SAY :supz:

[Mark Collins]

anyone care to reply


letters@thecourier.co.uk

Why protect sparrowhawks?


Sir,—We read so much about the diminishing numbers of songbirds nowadays and all the “various” reasons for it from the RSPB(of prey), who regard themselves as the only authority on the subject and they will listen to no-one else with a little common sense.

They tell you that they look after the interests of ALL birds. Slightly misleading, I say, due to the fact that they protect sparrowhawks, or is it just possible that none of them know about these “murderers”?

Anyone living in the countryside can tell you about this thing which appears from nowhere, scattering all birds in the area. It catches one and proceeds to tear it to bits (I did not miss anything; it does NOT kill its prey, that dies slowly) the rest are scared stiff and hide in the most unusual places. Any young they are rearing are left to die. This procedure can happen all day long from daylight to darkness as this predator needs half a dozen chaffinch-sized birds per day to live—never mind about when it has young.

Two or three weeks ago we had a flock of longtailed tits appear, the first I have ever seen in this area. There were about 30, and they came every day to the feeders in the garden. The other day I saw there were about 10 left. So much for feeding the birds in your garden to keep up numbers.

By the way, the robins have disappeared, half the blue tits and great tits have gone,and the blackbirds have vanished.

Visit the RSPB site and you will be offered a free bird box among other things. Ironical, is it not?

There is an awful lot more to this story, but it would be interesting to hear a reason for keeping these “murderers” protected from someone who knows something that I don’t.

Donald Dochard.
East Cottage,
Mains of Murie,
Errol. Cats and magpies kill more birds 10 times over than spars, lets face it every other household has a cat , magpies are in nearly every garden, the local parks have gangs of them, remember the ryme one for sorrow two for joy, needs rewritting, counted 10 today , spars , my ****,mark.

[Mark23576]

if brains were dynamite Donald Dochard would'nt have enough to blow his noise

[Drake]

Mark, "get real", as Uncle Col would say. Forget cats and magpies, are you aware of the devastation, yes, the devastation caused by vicious vehicles killing millions of animals, birds and insects every day all over the world! And they kill people too, but I can't complain about that because they do more damage than the car!

It's time you joined Shoot A Car Daily, I've just joined and started off by shooting my own car while my 'little barracuda' was in it, great, two birds with one stone!

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

Mark, "get real", as Uncle Col would say. Forget cats and magpies, are you aware of the devastation, yes, the devastation caused by vicious vehicles killing millions of animals, birds and insects every day all over the world! And they kill people too, but I can't complain about that because they do more damage than the car!

It's time you joined Shoot A Car Daily, I've just joined and started off by shooting my own car while my 'little barracuda' was in it, great two birds with one stone!

:lol:

[MattSpar]

For those of Mr Dorchard's persuasion, I suggest you look at this website..
www.imawally.com (http://www.imawally.com)

[RedTail17]

Dear Donald
Its called LIFE!! get over it

[Paul-Dennis]

anyone care to reply


letters@thecourier.co.uk

Why protect sparrowhawks?



Donald Dochard.
East Cottage,
Mains of Murie,
Errol.
this guy is a complete nob,where i live theres tons of wild spars,and tons of robins,chaffinch,goldfinch,linnet,bullfinch,greenf inch,sparrows,starlings,great tit, longtailed, blue,coal,blackbird,both tpyes of thrush,millions of magpie,jay,jackdaw,dove,woodys,crow the list is endless,the spars are doing great thank you very much and so are all the other "prey species"....lol whish id got the knoledge to fly one of these little beggers...atb paul

[Paul-Dennis]

I do believe that the number of wild bop has increased dramatically though.

too many cats where I am aswell, I can't keep the things out of my garden - have started calling the garden 'cat c**p corner' :twisted:

I like all birds but what would be interesting to hear on this forum is how many falconers or bop owners help other species out.

I am a firm believer in 'putting back what I take out'. Although I don't hunt I still feed birds,put up nesting boxes etc.same here mate, her next door is in cat protection league and feeds all the "ferals".if it was upto me id shoot the ****ers,as for feeding wild birds yes mate i do,im lucky i live in rural area,ive looked out of my back window and seen allsorts from chaffinch,barn owl and even a bloody heron once lol,and yes ive gotta nest box up for the blue tits,which they use every year...atb paul

[CrossHawk]

Quite simply there are lots of spars because, there are lots of prey species. One cannot exist without the other and i reckon they know, when you set up an avian takeaway or 'fly threw' in your garden to attract the LBJ's (Little brown jobs) Mommy spar is just nipping down the peanut feeder for lunch.

Love it ....some people got far too much time on their hands!