Defra

[gordi.b]

what about one of the measures defra suggest in the reply to the letter in this weeks bhw, " have a loft of less valuable pigeons for the hawks to eat " are these people on the same planet?

[Guest homestead]

it makes you wonder

[frank-123]

Just goes to prove we have no chance of a limit on there numbers

[hawked again]

It also said that “there was no evidence that birds of pray cause major losses of racing pigeons at lofts or during racesâ€. They should come and see what happens around my loft; I can hardly let my birds out now. Up to about four years ago, unless there was thick fog, my birds were out every day of the year apart from Christmas day and New Year’s Day. They are locked up all winter now, from the last young bird race to the start of April. This year I had 27 cocks without mates so I tried letting them out about 3 weeks ago. They have been out maybe 5 times and the hen sparrow hawk has had 7 of them, that’s more than 25% and they are trying to tell us “there was no evidence that birds of pray cause major losses of racing pigeons at lofts or during racesâ€. These people either haven’t got a clue or don’t want to have a clue.

 

So:

 

Can we all get together and lobby the Edinburgh Parliament. Ask them, under the supervision of the RSPB, SNH and the SHU, we set up a small loft that can be closely monitored by these three bodies. We could all chip in to set things up, donate youngsters (this could turn into a one loft race) and pay for feed. A nursing home or a school would be a fantastic site, it may give folk a reason to get up in the morning or give the bairns something to keep them out of trouble.

We would need doo folk with plenty spare time on their hands to set things up and put the birds out every day, use all the methods recommended to keep hawks away apart from Eagle owl recordings. All my neighbours love to see the doos out flying but if I played the owl recording they would soon change their views, the noise is horrendous. The three bodies could keep a good eye on what’s happening around the loft and put a report into the Edinburgh Parliament that shows a true picture of what happens around a loft and how the birds that manage to escape come home from the racing ripped to bits. I only did seven old bird races last year, as far as Rotherham, but I had six birds home all slashed up. How did so many manage to escape? Are the hawks fighting over them?

What do you all think then? Is it worth a try? I will make a cash donation to help set up the loft and supply some youngsters next year if it’s a goer.

[Guest IB]

It also said that “there was no evidence that birds of pray cause major losses of racing pigeons at lofts or during racesâ€. They should come and see what happens around my loft; I can hardly let my birds out now. Up to about four years ago, unless there was thick fog, my birds were out every day of the year apart from Christmas day and New Year’s Day. They are locked up all winter now, from the last young bird race to the start of April. This year I had 27 cocks without mates so I tried letting them out about 3 weeks ago. They have been out maybe 5 times and the hen sparrow hawk has had 7 of them, that’s more than 25% and they are trying to tell us “there was no evidence that birds of pray cause major losses of racing pigeons at lofts or during racesâ€. These people either haven’t got a clue or don’t want to have a clue.

 

So:

 

Can we all get together and lobby the Edinburgh Parliament. Ask them, under the supervision of the RSPB, SNH and the SHU, we set up a small loft that can be closely monitored by these three bodies. We could all chip in to set things up, donate youngsters (this could turn into a one loft race) and pay for feed. A nursing home or a school would be a fantastic site, it may give folk a reason to get up in the morning or give the bairns something to keep them out of trouble.

We would need doo folk with plenty spare time on their hands to set things up and put the birds out every day, use all the methods recommended to keep hawks away apart from Eagle owl recordings. All my neighbours love to see the doos out flying but if I played the owl recording they would soon change their views, the noise is horrendous. The three bodies could keep a good eye on what’s happening around the loft and put a report into the Edinburgh Parliament that shows a true picture of what happens around a loft and how the birds that manage to escape come home from the racing ripped to bits. I only did seven old bird races last year, as far as Rotherham, but I had six birds home all slashed up. How did so many manage to escape? Are the hawks fighting over them?

What do you all think then? Is it worth a try? I will make a cash donation to help set up the loft and supply some youngsters next year if it’s a goer.

 

We had a recent project in Scotland on sparrowhawk predation at lofts, that provided evidence so our 'DEFRA' (SEERAD) and SNH know and admit that it is a problem, and that has led to a change in the Law. How it will be implemented is yet to be made known - guidance is to be issued on Licensing.

 

The earlier work on Raptor predation on racing pigeons produced the Report which is mentioned in BHW. What DEFRA and everyone else that quotes from it doesn't say though is that the SHU disputed the findings as the Project was changed without Agreement. They say there is no evidence. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It means 'they' have no evidence that it does. What we need is evidence to support what we suspect is happening when convoys of racing pigeons are attacked by peregrines. We need it on film. We need to record the time, the date, the place, the Fed, the number of birds in the convoy, and the number of birds that made it home within the expected time for a race given the distance + weather conditions. We need a spotter plane to track several convoys and film what happens. That way we will have the evidence that 'they' want.

[Guest bluemorning]

ib

very costly and very difficult to do mate,would answer a lot of questions though.