Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Dropping like flies: a sign that birders of my generation are getting old
It is very sad to have to report the deaths of two long-serving birders this week - firstly GRAHAM SODEN from Northamptonshire and secondly, MICK CASE from Ipswich in Suffolk. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time with both of them and shared some great moments on long twitches. Graham and I did a lot of trips together in the 1980's (I managed to get his life list up to about 450) and we worked together on Amersham market for nearly 15 years. He always had a keen interest in bird photography and delighted in sending me his best efforts whenever he returned home. This of course was the pre-digital era. Mick and I did several long twitches to Scilly together and he was a Suffolk birder that regularly phoned me for information and guidance in the early days of BIS. Both observers will be sorely missed and I send my heartfelt condolescences to the families concerned.
Friday, 4 September 2015
Gloucestershire BADGERS need your help
Please come out and join
us
It was made very clear last night
that the cull has started in Gloucestershire with badgers being trapped and then
shot and others being shot as they walked the fields. Our wounded badger
patrols and sett monitors were out alongside people from many other groups all
trying to help our badgers. One badger was rescued by another group and released
back to its sett.
Most of the activity seemed to be
centred in the west of the cull zone. Our Newent patrols cover that area.
We now need as many supporters as
possible to come out and do whatever you can.
ü Join one of our nightly patrols
ü Stay relatively near to a specific
sett for a few hours
ü Walk during the daytime to check the
area around known setts
ü Stay in a car at a specific point
got several hours
ü Sending us a donation via Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GlosABS/app_117708921611213
All the details about our patrols
and other activities are set out on the link below:
Please join us if you can.
Mutilated badger found in cull zone
Two badgers were found at the
weekend before the cull started. Scott and his animal rescue ambulance took one
to the Vale Animal Centre but it died later. The other had been mutilated
having had its ears cut off. This disgrace has had some press coverage .
Costs of culling exposed.
DEFRA has now confirmed new costings
for the badger cull so far. They come to nearly £7,000 per badger killed.
Friday, 28 August 2015
BADGERS in the firing line once again....
BADGER TRUST CONDEMNS CONTINUED CULLING AS “COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL’
UK’s
leading naturalists and broadcasters Chris Packham and Steve Backshall
agree.
The Badger Trust has condemned the government’s decision to continue with the pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset as ‘completely irrational’.
“These
culls were sold to the public as an experiment to see if free-shooting badgers
was humane and effective,” says the Badger Trust’s CEO, Dominic Dyer, “and on
both counts they have comprehensively failed.”
The
government's Independent Expert Panel (IEP) and now the British Veterinary
Association (BVA) have condemned free shooting as 'inhumane' . There was a
failure to achieve the minimum number of badgers killed in either annual cull in
Gloucestershire and in Somerset the second year of culling achieved a much
reduced target figure.
“However,
the real scandal is that the vast majority of culled badgers will not have had
Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB),” continues Dominic Dyer. “The government has insisted
that none of them are tested for the disease either before or after they are
killed. This means the culling method is not only ‘blind’ but also that there is
no way of ever knowing if it has worked.
“Defra’s
own data suggest that while 15% of badgers may test positive for bTB, just 1.6%
of them are capable of passing on the disease. This means 98.4% pose no risk
whatsoever to cattle and 85% are likely to be completely bTB free. Trying to
control bTB in cattle by culling badgers that don’t have bTB doesn’t make any
sense.”
Two
of the UK’s leading naturalists and broadcasters Chris Packham and Steve
Backshall have joined with the Badger Trust to condemn the government’s
decision. “Ignoring science and going back to the dark ages culling badgers to
keep certain lobbies happy, is a terrible idea,” says Steve Backshall, whilst
Chris Packham has said, “There are plenty of reasons to oppose the culling of
badgers but underpinning them all is the fact that the science says, indeed all
the scientists say, that it’s the wrong thing to do”.
“The
government and the farming lobby are continuing to play the badger blame game in
order to mask their failure to properly control this disease,” says Badger Trust
Chairman, Peter Martin, “the Welsh Government’s approach has been far more
successful by focusing on improved testing and movement controls in cattle. New
incidents of bTB in Wales are down 28% with a 45% cut in the number of cattle
being slaughtered. This leaves 94% of the Welsh herd now free of bTB, without
culling any badgers”.
The Badger Trust is urging the government to adopt the same approach in England and also to consider the economics of the cull. “Two years of badger culling have cost the tax payer in the region of £15 million,” continues Peter Martin, “it’s the most expensive wildlife cull of its kind on record. And to what effect? Culling badgers costs ten times more than vaccinating them”.
“To cap it all,” concludes Dominic Dyer, “Defra’s latest figures [1] show TB incidents in and around the cull zones are actually increasing. This was predicted not just by the scientists but was also highlighted as a serious concern in the government’s own risk assessments. Taking all these factors into consideration, their decision to carry on culling badgers is completely irrational”.
"DEFRA’s
December 2011 policy on badger culling confirmed that it will be necessary to
undertake a further cost/benefit analysis before rolling out culling beyond the
two pilot areas (paragraph 4.18):
‘Culling
in two pilot areas will enable us to test our and the farming industry’s cost
assumptions for elements of the policy where there is currently uncertainty.
Alongside the outcome of the evaluation of culling in the pilot areas (see
paragraph 6.1), this will also inform our decision on wider roll-out of the
policy.’
“As
far as we are aware, no such cost/benefit analysis has yet been undertaken, and
it is not clear how it could be undertaken until the conclusion of the pilot
culls.
“The
decision to extend the badger cull to Dorset in particular has no scientific
justification as the County has seen one of the largest declines in bTB rates in
England with a 37.25% drop between 2012 to 2014 without killing any badgers.”
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
A close encounter of the SABINE'S GULL kind...
Unusually strong SW/West winds during the first few days of August 2015 resulted in the finding of Greater Manchester's 5th SABINE'S GULL on 4th - showing down to literally just a few yards close to the Horrock's Hide at Pennington Flash Country Park. The bird quickly drew a large crowd, culminating in well over 300 visitors during the course of the day, as it associated with a large Black-headed Gull flock waiting for scraps on the mere. Although I was at Spurn Point when I heard of it's finding, it was a bird I could not resist seeing and after a drive of 98 miles across the M62, I eventually arrived on site just after 3pm. It was nice seeing so many well-known faces - all of local origin - and the bird, well, just look - showing well you could say, thanks to the car park burger van and her supply of soft buns........
A couple of juvenile MEDITERRANEAN GULLS were also in amongst the throng of Black-headed Gulls
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