Are there more birds of prey around?

[Heltor Chasca]

Hen harriers are on my wish list. Marsh harriers aplenty and still genuinely awesome.

[TrekMad]

Lot of buzzards round the low hills. Not sure if it's a growing population though.

[TrekMad]

Bird of Pray

Shudder!

[Tangled Metal]

Hen harriers are on my wish list. Marsh harriers aplenty and still genuinely awesome.

Come up to Forest of Bowland then, a bit of a stronghold but not very common here neither. It is the symbol for the AONB though.

Come up quick as there has been a few cases of birds tagged with a GPS suddenly going missing with their GPS dying (probably them too). The hunting estates certainly give them a good habitat but not all want them around. IIRC there were 5 breeding males that went missing. All tagged and tracked. I think that was this Spring just before breeding season so you could say that scuppered the breeding this year for those 5 adult males.

In case you wondered the big estate owners are the Queen, Charles and Duke of Westminster (although I heard that the Duke has not really been interested in it of late and hasn't been up here shooting for a few years now). There have been prosecutions for hen harriers being killed illegally. IIRC one gamekeeper was jailed but the owner was not prosecuted because they had the perpetrator even though the employer should also be responsible for setting the rules for their staff on this IMHO.

Marsh Harriers? Think I saw one near Leighton Moss area once. It was spotted as I drove past so I am about 95% sure of the id. Put it this way, if it was not a marsh harrier then something else is hunting in a suitable area for them which looks similar.

My wish list is a white tailed eagle and above that a goshawk.

[Miguel Evans]

Have a look at the statistics:
http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/bb ... bs-reports

[Heltor Chasca]

Have a look at the statistics:
http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/bb ... bs-reports

Brilliant. I do a local BBS tetrad. No HH or red kite added though! I don't think it'll be long till RKs are everywhere. Remember London in the Medieval days anyone? [emoji6]

[maxcherry]

Do Seagulls count

[TrekMad]

Only.if you believe the Daily Mail !

[Tangled Metal]

Seagulls are known to eat other birds, usually chicks, so why is this even news anywhere in the modern world? I've seen this sort of thing happening on nature shows a few times so perhaps I am unusual in not being surprised by it. I guess it could come down to the type of person who actually reads the source of this "shock" story. Mirror and Mail readers are in their own class of humanity capable of gross ignorance and stupidity. At least they have one benefit to mankind and that is to give Grauniad readers someone to look down on!!

There was another show on TV last night that was looking at gulls. They put GPS trackers on gulls to show how they spent their whole feeding time in a small area around St Ives harbour where there was a lot of tourists and dropped food. They tried to make out that there was one gull who was the mastermind of a gull thieving group. Well that was the bit I saw. They showed a clip of one gull nicking the same guy's bit of battered fish about 5 times on repeat in about 5 minutes of the show that I watched. They're scavengers and like all scavengers it is about the opportunity. If that opportunity involves taking live animals or birds they will. Kites too are scavengers who also kill as are buzzards, crows, ravens, etc. Get what you can when you can. That is nature I think.

[TrekMad]

Absolutely, on our local canal the gulls have been taking cygnets for as long as I can remember. It's gotten worse though , as previously the swans would have broods of maybe 2-4, now it's the norm 6-10, such is the efficient dispatch of the seagulls.

[Tangled Metal]

Brave gulls, I wouldn't like to mess with a swan with brood. I've seen a swan have a go at two canoeists on a canal once when they tried to paddle their Canadian past a swan with cygnets. The swans round here all seem to have about 7-8 cygnets. We have a few nests on the edge of the canal around here and one canalside house has even planted reeds and made a nest bed for them next to their canal mooring. Don't be around them if a dog is near you neither.

[DavidT]

Lots of interesting responses. I'm pleased that the consensus is that there are more birds of prey around - and I'm therefore not imagining it!

Brave gulls, I wouldn't like to mess with a swan with brood. I've seen a swan have a go at two canoeists on a canal once when they tried to paddle their Canadian past a swan with cygnets. The swans round here all seem to have about 7-8 cygnets.

I have a good section of canal quite near me which is lovely for an early evening ride/potter after work and provides a nice circuit for a quiet route. Unfortunately as evening approaches the swans are often on the bank and keen to hiss as you pass close by. It can be a bit unnerving.

David

[TrekMad]

Hissing is about as far as they go!

[maxcherry]

A goose tried to steal my brains today Blooming Canadians coming over here and stealing our brains Don't see Ukip or the EDL giving them grief (the cowards )

[DavidT]

Hissing is about as far as they go!

That's good to hear!