661-Pete wrote:When out cycling I tend to see more pheasants occupying arable farmland than woodland. It may be that they are originally released into woodland but they don't stay there.
The pheasant is a classic woodland fringe bird. So woodlands which hold pheasant are often linear or planted as a series of woodlands. If you do any walking through big blocks of woodland what you won't see in the middle is pheasant!
Next to pheasant holding woods strips of cover crops, things like kale, miscanthus or even sunflower are planted, this increases the capacity to hold birds in the wood. The pheasants don't stay out in arable overnight, they roost in trees.
mnichols wrote:Given that independent research proves that its is damaging, what is your argument for it continuing?
But with research you pays your money (or your prejudice) and takes your choice. I've seen research that shows there are greater numbers of songbirds in well-managed pheasant holding woodlands than others; and if there's good cover to keep the wood warm that's perfectly logical. The offset might be that that means it'll hold less woodpecker, or goshawk or something. It's always swings and roundabouts.
I'm also against swings and roundabouts in woodland and natural settings.
mnichols wrote:Given that independent research proves that its is damaging, what is your argument for it continuing?
But with research you pays your money (or your prejudice) and takes your choice. I've seen research that shows there are greater numbers of songbirds in well-managed pheasant holding woodlands than others; and if there's good cover to keep the wood warm that's perfectly logical. The offset might be that that means it'll hold less woodpecker, or goshawk or something. It's always swings and roundabouts.
I'm also against swings and roundabouts in woodland and natural settings.
Ben@Forest wrote:There are no doubt issues with the release of pheasants but it is into woodland habitats where dynamics have already been altered by man and where poorer management could easily take (or not take) place.
When out cycling I tend to see more pheasants occupying arable farmland than woodland. It may be that they are originally released into woodland but they don't stay there.
They roost there at night and they more widely during the day to feed, as you say typically on arable crops.
Here we go again.... I have notifications of quotes that I can't access.Posts have been trimmed/deleted! Why bother having a Forum if debate is moderated to the extent that it's actually non-existent? Mods. Could you please PM me the quotes/answers so I can at least view them?I've been away a couple of days and now this thread makes absolutely no sense!!!!!!!!!!
It appears that I am one of the only "shooters" on this Forum and all my posts have been trimmed or deleted!!!! WHY????????? Am I not allowed to give the perspective of one of the "Sadists"(Thank you Cugel ) that participate in this activity? Does my opinion/experience not apply?
I take it someone has objected so the mods have deleted Questions were asked that I cannot debate/reply to. Censorship(?)
100%JR wrote:It appears that I am one of the only "shooters" on this Forum and all my posts have been trimmed or deleted!!!! WHY????????? Am I not allowed to give the perspective of one of the "Sadists"(Thank you Cugel ) that participate in this activity? Does my opinion/experience not apply?
I take it someone has objected so the mods have deleted Questions were asked that I cannot debate/reply to. Censorship(?)
All of your posts? Exactly one of your posts was removed from this thread & it was because it directly insulted another user. Some subsequent and related posts were also removed, but the others were not your posts.
I you want to debate, or give your perspective, please fell free to do so. That perspective should not include what you think of other users.
If you don't want your posts moderated, don't insult other users.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Vorpal wrote:All of your posts? Exactly one of your posts was removed from this thread & it was because it directly insulted another user. Some subsequent and related posts were also removed, but the others were not your posts. I you want to debate, or give your perspective, please fell free to do so. That perspective should not include what you think of other users. If you don't want your posts moderated, don't insult other users.
Please explain to me exactly how and where I "directly" insulted another user?
I may be wrong but another member labelled all shooters Sadists?Some (not me) might find that insulting?
Cugel wrote:[moderated] Cugel
Mmm. Tell me Vorpal is this aimed at me?I assume so.So could this not be seen as "directly" insulting?
Anyway @Cugel I don't believe any of my previous posts were "mad" or "hateful".If you do then that's your opinion which I have to respect.I would also like to be allowed my opinion but once again I'm not.BTW could you explain "righty-tighties" please because the only time I've heard that phrase is when it's applied to nuts and bolts. IIRC you appeared to believe I got some sadistic "pleasure" from shooting pest species?I will answer that in more detail later today if you're interested but I'm on my way to the range now....to shoot......paper targets
100%JR wrote:Mmm. Tell me Vorpal is this aimed at me?I assume so.
The post was removed whilst you were quoting it.
And rightly so!
Still, one feels that Hundred might benefit from being subject to some of his own kind of stuff. .....
Well, no. Probably not.
Cugel the naughty.
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
100%JR wrote:Mmm. Tell me Vorpal is this aimed at me?I assume so.
The post was removed whilst you were quoting it.
WHY??????? There was absolutely nothing wrong with what Cugel posted!!!!
The moderation on this Forum is just wrong on so many levels (oh and please don't say "if you don't like it...blah,blah,blah")You still haven't answered my question.
Cugel wrote:
Vorpal wrote:
100%JR wrote:Mmm. Tell me Vorpal is this aimed at me?I assume so.
The post was removed whilst you were quoting it.
And rightly so! Still, one feels that Hundred might benefit from being subject to some of his own kind of stuff. ..... Well, no. Probably not.Cugel the naughty.
Nope,you've got me there too.No idea what you mean.
Last edited by 100%JR on 22 Mar 2019, 5:06pm, edited 2 times in total.
100%JR wrote:@Cugel Still waiting for an explanation of "righty-tighties"
And lefty - loose-ies .... obviously ....
Cugel speaks sense for a change ..... outstanding ...
I yam the very definition, the prime exampler, of sensible! Everyone knows that. Oh yes they do!
Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
Where I live, the population of magpies has gone up whilst the population of little birds has crashed. It would be easy to draw conclusions from that observation, but then we need to remember, correlation is not equal to causation. (if you read Angry Chef's books you will learn about the Easter Lapwing.........).
Looking from a wider perspective. Where I live, over the past 10 years, 90% of the houses in the street have gone from having front gardens with trees (planted when the estate was built) to brick driveways. Trees cut down (they drop leaves in the autumn which is untidy doncha know!), back gardens "made over" with lots of hard paving and/or immaculate lawns. I am one of the few rebels- I planted a birch tree in the front and a cherry tree in the back and put a yew hedge down the side. Put in a small pond, and grow as much as I can for the pollinators (raised from seed, ideally organic so not coated in neonics). Won't brick the drive.
There's fewer habitats for insects now and noticably fewer bees, a flock of little birds (mainly coal-tits) sometimes come to the birch tree to peck the bark in the winter, but most of the area is now a desert if you're a small bird. There's only a couple of blackbirds left singing in the morning now, a few years ago there were far more.
OK, so corvids will take some small birds or their eggs- after all, in a healthy population of small birds, there's loads produced every year so nature has some checks and balances. TBH, corvids eat basically anything- which is how they survive.
Conclusion part 1: the small birds died out not because of corvids but because of the behaviour of the local humans who removed their food sources by replacing greenery with paving and spraying to deathly perfection any remaining garden. The corvids survive because they, like the seagulls, will (a) eat anything and (b) are big enough to scavenge through the bins.
(Similarly, rats survive, but I'd not seen a hedgehog in ages (they used to be regular visitors before the gardens were paved over). Like small birds hedgehogs eat insects, whereas like corvids and seagulls, rats eat pretty much anything including human throw-away stuff.)
Conclusion part 2: killing the corvids won't help bring back the small birds. Whereas taxing driveways by the square foot and giving discounts for trees and stuff may do.
Also....... grouse shooting is destructive of uplands, and IMO should be banned, with uplands being put back to blanket bog and other greenshouse-gas absorbing habitat. Grouse and pheasant are no more "wild" than chickens, and their rearing is at the price of birds of prey which are regularly poisoned by gamekeepers. Over-stocking of sheep is equally destructive- they also prevent regeneration of woodland which helps hold back water in the hills as well as mopping up greenhouse gases.
I'm not an eco-warrior, but I can see that reducing sheep stocking levels, stopping grouse/pheasant shooting, stopping peat removal for gardens and restoring upland habitats would do a heck of a lot for carbon capture, flood reduction, drought resilience and for divesity of species. As would (in the towns) taxing driveways by the square foot and giving rebates for trees, hedges and ponds and suchlike. Whereas all killing corvids does is, well, kill corvids.
) that participate in this activity?
