Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 22:24:23 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mike Callahan Subject: What a difference on the other side of the pond MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello MDOSPREYers, Below is a copy of a message from a Raptor Listserve that I participate in. It was sent by a chap from England. How different it is at the other side of the big pond. I have been to Scotland a number of times birding and visiting family and was surprised the British environmental attitude, outlook and conditions. I expected them to be ahead of if not at least level with us when it came to environmental protection, considering their history of eradication of the forests, birds and wildlife though out their long rich history. How can people from such a civilized part of the world believe that it is the raptors that have caused the songbird demise, when they only keep songbird populations in check? Unfortunately the "kill raptors" state of mind still exists in the US as well. Look at our Western US where in some areas you still see dead raptors tied hanging upside on fence lines. During my 1995 visit to Scotland, I constantly looked for them and saw only 4 raptors/3 species. So if their raptors population is so high, I certainly never saw evidence of this. For the relative size of the island you would expect a visible presence. I say we start a campaign to trap, quarantine and send as many European Starlings and English House Sparrows back to England where they came from and help our songbird population. Now I will step back down from the soapbox and go birding. Hope to see you in the field! Naturally, Mike Callahan Here's an article that appeared in the press over here, I thought you might find interesting, let me know what you think! SOME of Britain's once common- birds, such as starlings, sparrows and song thrushes, are nose-diving in numbers so fast they could soon be endangered, according to figures published this week. A joint survey by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology, in partnership with the Joint Nature Conservation Comittee, claims several species are at their Lowest ever levels and predicts that "further population declines inevitable". ' Three-quarters of the species are below figures set by the Government, and some have halved in population in the past decade. The devastating news has prompted calls for action from concerned pressure group the Songbird Survival Action Group, which blames the RSPB's preoccupation with raptor schemes for contributing to the problem. IT BELIEVES Britain's uncontrolled bird of prey population is taking a heavy toll of songbird numbers and would like to see raptor control introduced into specific areas to monitor its effect on other bird numbers. "We are concerned that the RSPB's love of raptors has overshadowed the fact that they are eating millions of other birds every year," said SSAG spokesman Keith Pullman. "We are looking for the kind of balance we had between the World Wars and just after when gamekeepers kept them back in numbers. If they aren't managed, everything else suffers. "The RSPB does a terrific amount of good work, but it can't see that unless we can control the number of raptors, then the chances of a recovery in the smaller bird population is pretty remote. "We are saying take off the protection and allow licences to responsible people to control them and see what happens. Gamekeepers should be allowed to take the common birds of prey when they are creating a problem, to keep them in check." THE latest RSPB statistics show that skylarks are 52 per cent down on figures for 1970, corn buntings are 85 per cent down and tree sparrows 87 per cent down. starlings and house sparrows now candidates for the red list, so low has their population fallen, along with lapwings, marsh and willow tits. In England and Wale's, Iapwing numbers have fallen by 50 per cent in ten years along with UK ' numbers of capercaillie and black grouse, while Scottish chough numbers declined 37 per cent ' in 12 years. The wryneck and red-backed shrike are still near extinction, and the bittern is still highly threatened. Chief among what the RSPB calls its "spectacular conservation successes" are birds of prey, with red kites, marsh harriers and ospreys all more than double the number they were in 1970, while merlins are up 50 per cent in ten years and white-tailed eagles are on target. Since 1970, numbers of sparrow hawks have increased up by 162 per cent and buzzards by 224 per cent. Magpies are up 113 per cent and carrion crows 120 per cent. House sparrows have dropped in number by 58 per cent, song thrushes by 55 per cent, starlings by 58 per cent and redpolls by 92 per cent. According to the Songbird Survival Action Group, there are currently around 30,000 sparrow hawks in Britain and all need to take three sparrow-sized birds every day to survive. Best wishes, Paul Risley, Lancs, England ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =======================================================================