birds of prey

[Guest]

 

                 pompey micks question on the best time to train his birds from work has been on my mind a lot , thinking back over the years of all the strikes by peregrines and sparrowhawks, it occurred to me that i never got a single strike when it was raining, i wonder if any body has noticed this , or is it peculuar to me ..

rain doesnt put me of for training , if the birds can fly around the loft for an hour and a half in rain they can train in it

 

                                                            tam pepper

 

 

Similar theme - two years ago, rain during most of the week stopped training. Thought I spotted a break in the weather Wedy afternoon and took youngbirds 15 miles. Bad toss, all 12 missing nightfall and homed in dribs & drabs in driving rain over next 3 days (had only 3 away to the race that Friday).

 

Speaking to club mates they reckoned hawk can't hunt when its raining, so when the weather finally breaks and idiots like meself are straight down the road again with the training baskets ... so are the hawks.

[westy]

i see a sparrow hawk round by me evrey other day.

[sj irving jnr]

on about hawks i hear that esk vally jackie of rv grahams was killed at the weekend by one, a sad end for a great pigeon.

[Chris Little]

A tragic loss , I really feel for Ras.

[westy]

sparrow hawk today just nealy got one of my ybs he would of had him if i was not around 1 feather from tail missing nothink tragic.

[Guest]

The sparrowhawk I have this year is a cow, went up the garden last week and a cracking yearling hen that I had high hopes for this year was headless under a bush.

Then the following day I let the widowhood hens out and she came straight out of a tree and chased one round the houses matching it turn for turn. Had my little hen (now named Kamikaze) not aimed straight at a house a turned at the last second leaving the hawk to go upwards she would surely be dead. They were millimeters apart.

Then yesterday went up the garden and found feathers, and after using up the english dictionary of swear words I realised the cockbird was alive and hiding under the loft minus most of his wing feathers. Then tonight I finally plucked up the courage to let my youngsters out for their first time and she went through but not really at them and the upshot is 3 youngens on the roof at dark.

 

I am getting fed up with this pigeon game, I love the birds so much but can't stand to see them killed like this.

[Guest]

Darran, wondered why you were still letting the birds out if the hawk is lying in wait?

 

'Done thing' seems to be if you get hit, hold them in for a day (or two) as it is reckoned the hawk will come back same time next day to the scene of its last kill / near miss. You maybe need to alter your routine too, if possible, to different times each day, and be there all the time the birds are out.

 

Also, have you tried putting up CDs on the loft?

 

Hope you beat this problem hawk.  

[Guest]

My naturals are on open hole and to be honest once the first strike of the year is over they learn to keep out of the way, become street wise. The Widowhood hen she killed was paired up and just about to be parted from eggs and it was morning time. Then the next day let widowhood hens out at 3.00pm so don't really get any more varied. She seems to get really bad before nesting then I don't see her till next year after end of april. Normally she kills youngsters but I moved my breeding back two months this year to stop her so she now wants old birds.

Luckily I haven't seen her for about a week until yesterday so she could be getting ready to nest.

[jimmy white]

BACK TO YOUR POST TAMMY, WE KNOW THAT HAWKS AND FALCONS CAN CONTRACT AVIAN FLU, NOW AFTER THIS SWAN BEING FOUND IN FIFE WITH SUSPECTED BIRD FLU, THIS SWAN WAS FOUND PARTLY DECOMPOSED, I SHOULD IMAGINE THERE WOULD BE TIME FOR MANY PREDATORS TO GET A SHARE, SO JUST MAYBE ONE OF THEM COULD BE A VICTIM, WHAT HAPPENS THEN???

[THE FIFER]

I KEEP SAYING THIS JIMMY IT'S THE WILD BIRDS THAT ARE GOING TO START THIS OFF, SO IT'S THEM THAT SHOULD BE GETTING DELT WITH CULLS ETC, DOMESTIC BIRDS CAN BE KEPT IN BUT WILD BIRDS CAN'T. BUT WILL THEY DO ANYTHING REGARDING CROWS GULLS HAWKS, JUST WAIT AND SEE.

[westy]

i keep myne in for 1 week when i have had a hawk had a nere miss or a catch.

[slatey]

being hammard last 2 days by female sparrowhawk in rotherham

tomo

[jimmy white]

bird of prey found dead ,,now in lab for tests h5n1      bbc, news    6pm

[westy]

lets hope not h5n1 but just dead for something else

[tam pepper]

 

 

                  i was talking to my m8 yesterday at my front gate , we heard a fluttering commotion in a large fir tree in a back garden a few yards away .

two birds fell out the tree and landed a few yards away, the larger firmly attached to the smaller , the larger was dispatched to birdie heaven , while the smaller a collared dove was in a sad state and in shock, to our amazement it flew up to a house roof with great determination .

the collared dove sat for hours then was gone bye eveningi hope the poor little bird survives ,

 

                                                  tam pepper

[JAS]

We have lost 6 birds to the sparrow hen already and the season not started yet. Last weekend a mate at the back of our loft lost 13 birds to a mink that got into his loft. We got it next morning.

[tam pepper]

 

 

                Jas ,you got my sympathy, you are going to have to get tooled up , its 3 years since i lost a bird to a sparrowhawk, it was a young bird first time out was taken over a hayfield, i did all the correct things, unfortunately a buzzard took the bird before the sparrowhak came back,

i have a cat box set all the time , my airgun has a pellet up the spout, and two springertraps in the shed , i also have another backup , but cant say what it is for obvious reasons .

i hope you get the culprit jas.  

 

                                                             tam pepper

[jimmy white]

yes jas ,i hope you can get rid of that hawk, about you, 6 pigeons and it will want more, all you can say is be prepared ,,with something thatll frighten it off

[frank-123]

just came back from my holidays to find two birds missing

pile of feathers in the next door neighbours garden

 

just as well iam moving loft location for the ybs

 

but ill try and make sure i get the sparrow----

[jimmy white]

maybe the sunday mail should see these 300 posts,,,,AND PHOTOS,

[frank-123]

 

 

 

Birds of Prey

 

The use of raptors as a deterrent to scare pigeons (and many other bird species) from their roosting sites is becoming more common. There are a number of companies in the UK offering this service. Raptors are flown in or around a specific building or site on a regular basis and the client is told that the resident pigeon flock will move elsewhere to roost. Clients are also told that an extensive culling operation is necessary in order to reduce pigeon numbers prior to flying the raptor. The theory is that once bird numbers in the area reduce to an acceptable level (as a result of culling) the raptor will then be flown and will establish a territory.

 

In practice it is the culling that operation reduces pigeon numbers on the site (in the very short-term) and the flying of a raptor has no effect whatsoever on the surviving flock. The client, however, sees an initial reduction in pigeon numbers (as a result of the culling operation) and assumes that the £90-£150 per hour that they are being charged for flying a raptor is money well spent. Pigeon numbers on the site then increase beyond the pre-cull figure (normally within 4-6 weeks) and the client realises that the raptor is having little or no effect. Far from seeing a reduction in pigeon numbers they actually see an increase. The client has simply been sold a very expensive and ineffective culling operation.

 

Many organisations perceive the use of a raptor as a ‘green’ and ‘natural’ method of control. It is neither of these things. Most of the companies offering this service are falconers that are jumping on the pest control bandwagon and hoping to make a quick and easy profit (falconry is a bloodsport where a human being derives pleasure from seeing one bird kill another). Many companies make fantastic claims about the effectiveness of their service but if flying a raptor is an effective control in its own right why do companies then need to cull pigeons prior to using a raptor? Because they are well aware that a raptor will be completely ineffective as a stand-alone control.

 

Nottingham City Council employed a falconer in 1999 to control pigeons in the city centre. The bird was seen attacking and killing pigeons in broad daylight in front of children and passers by. The scheme received a massive amount of bad press and had no effect on the pigeon population, yet the cost to the ratepayer was £5000. For £5000 the City Council could have put a completely effective and humane city-wide strategy in place that would have permanently reduced pigeon numbers in the city centre.

 

In the last 2-years Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and renowned pigeon hater, has paid out vast sums of public money to a pest control company to fly several raptors in London’s Trafalgar Square on a daily basis. These raptors (Harris Hawks) have slaughtered large numbers of pigeons according to witnesses, tearing pigeons to bits (in many cases whilst still alive) and in front of children and other visitors to Trafalgar Square. Even though this disgusting and inhumane method of control has cost ratepayers in London large sums of money, the service has had little if any effect on pigeon numbers in Trafalgar Square. The large reduction in pigeon numbers has been achieved by starving pigeons to death, not by using lethal controls. Is this what Ken Livingstone meant when he told ratepayers that he would create a “Cruelty-free London.” in his campaign for the Mayoral Elections?

 

PiCAS would not, under any circumstances, recommend the use of a raptor to control any feral bird species. It is a cruel and completely ineffective method of control where the pest controller is the only beneficiary.

 

[Guest CS]

[jimmy white]

WONDER WHOS CHAMPION THAT WAS????

[jimmy white]

 

Forwarded Text:

 

 

Photos Attached.

 

AND WHERE HAVE ALL THE SONG BIRDS WENT,,,LOOK BACK POSTS

[jimmy white]

Jimmy sent me an pictures e-mails and wanted me to post on the site.

 

Jimmy quoted

"so much for bird wath [rspb]  only birds i saw were 2 buzzards 3 sparrow hawks sitting on pylons and telegraph poles ,gone before i could take photo, a few seagulls passing over high, and a few crows flying over, no one song bird IN A NATURE RESERVE, THE RSPB WOULD BE BETTER GOING THERE THEMSELVES AND VERIFYING THIS, AND TELLING US WHY???"

 

CERTAINLY NOT HERE, AND A NATURE RESERVE AT THAT?????LOOK BACK POSTS