rasbull

For a long, long time I thought the only way to get our message across was via Facebook. Now it certainly seems to be kicking off big time. This is going to be something the RSPB cant stop, edit, delete and will give the members of public a true reflection of what is happening to our songbirds! Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Christ, got the RSPB actually looking at the Facebook Action page!! Things are looking up if they are taking time to actually worry what is being displayed to all members of the public without any of their propaganda being spouted about!! This is an email I received this afternoon! Dear Mr Shepherd, Thank you for posting my reply to you on Facebook. I notice also that you posted your reply, but not my response to that? I would very much like you to do so, as it may help to convince some of your readers that the problems facing our songbirds are not Sparrowhawks, but factors further down the food chain. I'm sure we both wish to see both points of view represented in a balanced argument. Best wishes, Darren Darren Oakley-Martin Wildlife Adviser 317 members now on there and rising all the time!! :) 428 signatures on the petition and rising daily! Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Just to clarify I will be deleting anyone who interferes with the Facebook group. The Facebook Action page is purely a showcase for the carnage these birds are doing to our sport and the songbird population. I am not interested in debate, other causes as there are plenty of places on the internet these discussions can take place. This is purely for songbird lovers, pigeon fanciers to express there feelings and post pictures etc, so members of the general public can see exactly what is happening. Anyone trying to sabotage the page as I said will be banned permanently. I have a banned list of 76 so far, and comments, postings etc are being deleted as soon as they are seen by myself and Admins. The only comments I can not control are comments made by other people if someone other than myself has posted a picture. But as soon as a bad comment is made, the person making it is banned. Once the hawk enthusiasts have been banned it will be plain sailing. Richard Shepherd http://www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Just to clarify I will be deleting anyone who interferes with the Facebook group. The Facebook Action page is purely a showcase for the carnage these birds are doing to our sport and the songbird population. I am not interested in debate, other causes as there are plenty of places on the internet these discussions can take place. This is purely for songbird lovers, pigeon fanciers to express there feelings and post pictures etc, so members of the general public can see exactly what is happening. Anyone trying to sabotage the page as I said will be banned permanently. I have a banned list of 76 so far, and comments, postings etc are being deleted as soon as they are seen by myself and Admins. The only comments I can not control are comments made by other people if someone other than myself has posted a picture. But as soon as a bad comment is made, the person making it is banned. Once the hawk enthusiasts have been banned it will be plain sailing. Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Just has an email from the Daily Mail asking for my postal address so looks promising that my letter will be published in the next few days! I will also be putting a downloadable petition on my website for members to download a copy and take to club mates, family, friends etc who don't have access to a computer. This ball is moving guys, now we got to keep it going! 381 signatures on the petition and 267 members on the Facebook Action Page. (That means an average of 18,500 members of the public are seeing pictures of the carnage these BOP are doing!) WE NEED MORE THOUGH!! Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

This is an email that was sent to me this morning that has now been posted on the Facebook Action page, makes interesting reading. The RSPB work in association with Local Authorities over the peregrine occupying our towns and cities plus the forestry commission in relationship to the goshawk and sparrow hawk, however what they do not shout from the roof tops for obvious reasons is the following. The forestry commission have a continuous annual logging programme which kills thousands of baby birds in the nest during the breeding season!!Their loophole for this practice is that a bird survey is carried out prior to felling which any ornathologist would admit to being impossible for such vast areas. The RSPB,their partners in raptor conservation ,accept this and state there is nothing they can do as the forestry commission are a private organisation. In my area last year a wood at Ampfield in Hampshire was felled/thinned with the known destruction of the nest of a coal tit,great spotted woodpecker,goldcrest,chiff chaffs and a brood of woodcock chicks (excluding the more common species) and when reported to the local press all the RSPB could come up with was the above excuse. My interpretation of the RSPB was the protection of birds not just specific species to suit their profile!! Kind regards, Roger Hurst

They are eventually going to run out of excuses I think! Maybe then they will be shown for what they are!

Copy of a letter I have emailed to Newseditors, Newspapers, Blogs and Tv Shows. Chaffinches down 27%, Starlings down 79%, Blackbirds down 18%, House Sparrows down 62% since 1979! I wonder what the perecentage increase for Birds of Prey is since 1979? It doesn't take a genius to work out where these birds are going. 26,000 nesting pairs of Sparrowhawks alone, need 52,000 songbirds a day that is close to 19 million a year! (Thats not even including the Peregrines, Goshawks and other birds of Prey. This is biggest reason these poor songbirds are being decimated. Several articles have appeared recently in National newspapers highlighting this and now the Garden Watch is providing the proof! We need to start opening our eyes otherwise the days of looking out of window at seeing blue tits, chaffinches and wrens will sadly be over! I have setup a Facebook group hoping to raise awareness the effect the increasing Bird of Prey population is having on small birds. The link is www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk and the link is at the bottom of the page. I have also started a petition which I have 340 names already. People are concerned and I urge people to think about what I have said. Increased predators and evidence that songbirds are declining can only amount to one cause! 19 millions birds a year with the sparrowhawk popualtion alone? How long can the songbirds sustain such massive losses? I hope you take time to have a look on the site and read the comments on my petition. If you would like to discuss this in the hope of bringing to the publics attention I will only be to glad to hear from you. Thank You Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

See you over there Paul!

Sounds like Rabbies to me! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Well said Mealy Cock. Facebook Action group is exactly the place for these photos and stories!

Great news, cheers! We now have 145 members each with 70 friends on average! So that is 10,150 members of the public who are likely to see pictures if the members post articles and pictures of the destruction! How else could we achieve such large numbers seeing this carnage directly into their own homes? www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Cheers Guys, thats been sorted for you. Anyone else wishing to be involved feel free to get in touch. www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

I am looking for any members on here who have joined the group who might like to become Admins for the group. A lot of hawk people have tried posting today and keeping an eye on everything is quite difficult. I don't want anyone who is a knocker to be posting anything which is likely to disrupt our cause and insist they get banned. There are enough places to discuss the topic other than this site. The site is purely a showcase for the effect the BOP are having on the songbird/racing pigeon populations with regard letters, pictures and stories. If you would like to become an admin then please PM me and I will sort it out. Thank You Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

And this is my reply:- Thank you taking the time to reply. However, I feel you have completely missed the point of my letter. I don't for one second believe there is a shortage of anything the wild birds eat which is causing there decline. My own garden for instance has not changed for 20 years, yet gone are the days of a garden full of Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Wrens and Sparrows. The bird table remains as does the nest box. Every year without fail I used to have Blue Tits nesting. When I was growing up I didn't know what a Sparrowhawk was, now it or should I say they, are seen in and around my garden daily. The nuts, bird seed and nesting opportunities remain, the only thing that has changed is the sightings of the sparrowhawk and destinct lack of songbirds. It may be simplistic as you put it, but it equally doesn't take a genius to work out why the birds have disappeared! The national newspapers have carried various stories of late all saying the same thing. So I can't be the only one who is noticing a change in the garden population. I believe a debate carried in one National newspaper, claimed 3-1 in favor of the protection being removed from these birds. Famous people have also noticed the decline as Marco Pierre White pointed out in an article in the Independent newspaper. Can you confirm what level the birds of prey are currently at giving details of nesting pairs at present throughout the UK and also for the last 20 years, as certain people within the RSPB are claiming the birds are rare and in need of protecting, yet others are equally claiming they are in abundance and indeed thriving. It may be simplistic but I would be willing to bet the number of pairs have increased yearly while the other species of songbird has declined. You claim Mr Cowell's letter was emotionally driven, but this is an ex member of the RSPB who has become seriously disillusioned at the way the RSPB is being run and the agenda they are carrying. If this is as you put it, is lacking understanding I think you plainly treat your members with contempt. It is clear for all to see that Mr Cowell's letter was written from the heart, and aimed at an organisation who claim to be protectors of all birds but when the truth surfaces this is just a front. If nature is nature, can I ask why birds of prey have been introduced into towns and cities where people can have a coffee while they watch a webcam displaying BOP nests and the feeding of chicks with other such birds. I am not aware of any such places which carry live feeds into Blue Tit nests watching them feed there babies? I could be wrong though, maybe you would be good enough to inform me on this. I eagerly await your reply. Thank you Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

This is the reply I had from my letter to the RSPB Dear Richard, Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns. Mr Cowell's note to the Daily Mail is clearly emotionally driven and lacks any understanding of the science between predator/ prey relationships. The problems our songbirds face arise from factors lower down the food chain, not higher up it. A wood, containing a fragmented population of trees where the sunlight can penetrate the canopy will support a greater number and diversity of nectaring plants. In turn, these plants will support a greater number of invertebrates on which most of our songbirds feed their young. It follows that if songbird populations are thriving, birds of prey will also do so. If this wood is left unmanaged and scrub is allowed to develop, this quickly denies sunlight to the woodland floor. This reduces the biodiversity of the flora, which in turn negatively affects the number of invertebrates. As a result, songbird population decline because they cannot find sufficient food with which to feed their young. If prey numbers fall, it is always the predator that dies out first, because prey is scarcer and thus more difficult to catch. As an example, a wood may support 1,000,000 caterpillars which in turn may support 50 pairs of Great Tits. This would perhaps only support one pair of Sparrowhawks. In the scenario that the wood is left unmanaged, the number of invertebrates may fall by a half, the number of Great Tits by a higher factor and the Sparrowhawks may disappear completely from the wood. The presence of Sparrowhawks in any area is an indicator that local songbird populations are healthy. To blame Sparrowhawks for the decline in songbird populations is both unscientific and simplistic. If Sparrowhawks were absent from an area, this really would be cause for concern - the key to ensuring the biodiverse state of our songbird population lies in appropriate habitat management. This is why we have such a large Advisory Department, assisting landowners with free advice on appropriate management techniques which will benefit all species - not just predators. I hope this clarifies the science between predator/ prey relationships, but if you have any further questions, please do get in touch. Best wishes, Darren Darren Oakley-Martin

The Facebook Action page has been inundated with Hawk lovers today! I have been banning anyone who attempts to interfere with the group. Still a load of hawk people registered but unless they interfere they are infact doing us a favour as the link is being displayed to all there friends as well! ;) ;D ;D ;D They setup a group of their own with all the banned members giving me a load of abuse. However, unlike there attempts to have the Facebook Action Group closed down I have successfully closed down their little group! This is the start of it guys and it will only get bigger and bigger each day now! Please post and help with raising the awareness amongst the general public! www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

The Facebook action group was full of Bird of Prey supporters this morning! All spouting off about how Birds of Prey were not to blame for the decline in songbirds / attacks of racing pigeons! Just like they do when we post on their forums, our posts are deleted or edited - so it was with great satisfaction I was able to hit the ban button and stop these people harming our group and obstructing our cause! The power of a button is a magical thing! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

I totally agree mate. The amount of people who have spoken to me over the last week since the launch of the Facebook Action page who had no idea regarding the situation is unbelievable. I pointed out in work regarding the letters that were printed in the Daily Mail and people were in total agreement about the lack of song birds. We dont have to change the law, just open peoples eyes to what is going on. The sheer weight of numbers and opinion will do the rest! ;-) Keep up the good work mate. If everyone did the same and just took 5 minutes to write a quick letter, we wouldn't be in the situation we currently find ourselves in for very long, thats for sure! Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

I was reading the letter published in the Daily Mail, Wednesday 17th March by Mr W.Cowell. I have to say I totally agree with what he stated in his letter regarding the decline in the British song bird population due to increased Bird of Prey levels. The last few weeks have seen various articles in newspapers regarding the effect Birds of Prey are having. From the article discussing the demise of songbirds from the sparrow hawk to 75 starlings found dead within a small area of each other in an urban area, believed to be from a hawk attack. In my own garden I used to see many species of birds - chaffinch, blue tits, great tits, bullfinch, wrens. I used to have blue tits nesting each year without fail. My garden has not changed over the years, but there have been no nesting birds for more years than I care to remember. This is such a shame and despite the many factors which could be blamed for this, the fact remains the most likely cause is increased predatory activity. I look out of my window and where I used to see 1 kestrel, I now see 4 or 5 all flying in close proximity of each other. I keep racing pigeons and many are finding it increasingly difficult to let their birds out for their freedom without fear of a sparrow hawk or peregeine hunting their beloved birds. Fanciers all over the country are reporting increased attacks to the stage where they are becoming so disillusioned they are quitting the sport. One loft has reportedly had 29 birds killed this year alone! The protection for Birds of Prey was put in place many, many years ago after persecution and rightly so. However, as the years have passed the balance has been re addressed and now the uncontrolled monitoring of allowing these birds to breed freely with no regulation is having a detrimental effect on the song birds, hunting and pigeon racing fraternities. I believe the general public are starting to notice the effect of the BOP protection and are fast seeing with their own eyes the consequences this protection is having. The RSPB claim to be protectors of all birds, can you tell me does the life of a chaffinch mean less than the life of a Sparrowhawk or Peregrine? Your organisation will go out of its way to promote and protect Birds of Prey. Who is standing up for the little guys? As I said earlier, people are starting to ask questions and soon your organisation is going to have to nail its colours to the mast - Either protector of all birds or just the ones whose face fits! I eagerly await your reply! Thank You. If anyone is yet to sign my petition please feel to do so and get as many people as you know to do so as well (links on my webiste at the bottom of the main page.) I have also setup the Facebook Action group and that is increasing in numbers each day. So far upto 89 members! Les Parkinson is mentioning the site in his column next week in the BHW. Also hoping to have a letter published in the BHW and Racing Pigeon. Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Hi Share Syndicate holder, I would like to firstly say that the young birds are growing very well and within a couple of weeks will be weaned off from their parents. Breeding has not gone exactly to plan with me pairing up a lot later than anticipated. It is with this in mind that I have changed the structure of the syndicate and therefore the interest you hold. Originally I was going to send 3 teams down to the race (9 pigeons) but due to lack of youngsters ready in time for the intake date to the Europa Loft in Cardiff, I have decided to reduce this to just 1 team of 3 pigeons. How will this affect you? Well, instead of 12 shares being split between 9 pigeons made up of 3 syndicates with 3 pigeons in each, it will now be 12 shares split between 3 pigeons made up of 3 syndicates with 1 pigeon in each. Here's what I propose:- Where as 1 syndicate of 4 people would have originally had 3 birds with 1 activated bird and 2 backups in the race, the back up will no longer exist. The syndicate (4 shares) will just have 1 pigeon in the race. If this pigeon is lost, there will be no replacement and it will be end of sports. It is going to cost £400 to enter the team of 3 into the race, so this means the cost to enter has reduced from the initial £50 a share to £33.50 a share! Those of you who have paid in full (£50), you will be sent a cheque for the amount of £16.50 as soon as possible. The good news is that the potential prize will remain unchanged because you will still own a 1/4 share in the bird in your syndicate. So based on last years winning amount that will still equate to £5,250 each! This was the only way I could still continue with the syndicate based on the number of young birds that would be ready in time. If as a shareholder in the syndicate you would still like to be involved please forward the £8.50 per share (as everyone has paid their £25 deposits) to me as soon as possible as within a couple of weeks the birds will be sent to the loft in Cardiff. If you are unhappy with the new setup of the syndicate please feel free to let me know and I will issue you with a refund for any money paid to date. Nothing has really changed if you think about it. It was costing £50 for a 1/4 share in 1 bird, with 2 backups which could be activated at a later date if still in the loft for an additional price. With this new setup it is now £33.50 for 1 bird with no backups. The prize remains the same as you would have stood to win had the format not changed! Thank You Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Yeah, will give him a ring later tonight and see if he fancies going over. He hadn't bothered pairing up when I spoke to him about 2 weeks ago.

Yeah I will be going Paul. Going to take my new loft manager....Finley! He's 2 and half and is in to the birds big time! Hope to see you there mate if you go.

I see the letters page in the Daily Mail carried a debate section on Bird of Prey/Songbirds in todays edition. 1 letter sticking up for the hawks and 3 against! All good publicity. Will put a copy on the Facebook Action page later tonight for anyone wanting to read. But 3-1 in favour of a cull is going to make a few people sit up and take notice. I think we have an ally in The Daily Mail, of all the National newspapers they seem the ones most likely to help achieve our aim and report our concerns. Another letter from myself will be fired off tonight in the hope the recently raised issue will be continued to be covered. Anyone else wanting to send a letter the email is letters@dailymail.co.uk. The more letters they receive the more inclined they will be to cover a full report on the topic. Richard Shepherd Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

73 members on the Facebook Action page, and growing all the time! Its free to join so come on, get involved and get posting! www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk and click link at bottom of the page! Signatures up to 274. If you have signed but your wife, partner, children, parents havent please get them to sign we need all the numbers we can get!