Hare and buzzard

[SRRC]

I'm another one who used to have one or two hare every 10 acres and no buzzards, now we have no hare and lots of buzzards.

 

[yellow belly]

Hares need taller cover for leverats to avoid buzzards
the tall rough areas of cocksfoot I have under mid tier have helped keep hares
plus good legal predictor control by the local shoots ( foxes crows magpies rats and grey squirrels )

when we combine and leave a short stubble the new leverats struggle to hide but that late in the summer the leverats struggle tobebig enough before winter

 

[Vader]

Boom or bust, too many predators and they almost remove one prey, the predator then dies from starvation hopefully allowing the prey to rebuild numbers and the cycle repeats, as long as one doesn't die out completely

In ye olde days maybe.
But now most predators can find plenty of suplimentary food we humans provide.

 

[Vader]

Of course it is. Are they really doing any harm?

We had no lapwing chucks raised fir years now. Buzzards kill them all.
That's harm to me...

 

[Smith31]

Like that lighthouse keepers cat that wiped out all the birds of one species on its island? Something like 60 percent of extinctions are by animals.

The occupants of the new build house around here have introduced hundreds of cats, they have decimated everything from rabbits to tree nesting birds. They are bored and simply kill for fun, leaving their prey to rot. It's heart breaking witnessing cats in hedges going about their business.

In many cases it's the introduction of hunting, disease and foreign animals into existing environments by humans, which causes destruction and extinction.

In my opinion the planet will become more at peace and a much better place when humans are extinct.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

We had no lapwing chucks raised fir years now. Buzzards kill them all.
That's harm to me...

What wormers do you use on your cattle?

 

[Vader]

What wormers do you use on your cattle?

Ivomec.
But lapwings don't nest on the grassland.
They nest on the arable fields. So irrelevant..

Plus I seen the buzzards taking the chicks.

 

[Kidds]

You do know that Buzzards eat earthworms don't you?

 

[Vader]

You do know that Buzzards eat earthworms don't you?

Eat all sorts, including lapwing chicks, what's your point?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Ivomec.
But lapwings don't nest on the grassland.
They nest on the arable fields. So irrelevant..

Plus I seen the buzzards taking the chicks.

Look it up.

 

[Vader]

Look it up.

So ivomec increases buzzard numbers and makes them eat more lapwings?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

So ivomec increases buzzard numbers and makes them eat more lapwings?

No, it's thought to persist in the soil and reduce invertebrate numbers which the lapwings and other waders feed on.

I'm not saying buzzards aren't predators or that predation doesn't happen, but it's not usually the cause of species declines except where you have introduced or invasive species dominating an ecosystem, or something like a domestic cat which gets fed whether it kills or not, so has all the time in the world to seek out that last bird or mammal without getting hungry.

 

[Vader]

No, it's thought to persist in the soil and reduce invertebrate numbers which the lapwings and other waders feed on.

I'm not saying buzzards aren't predators or that predation doesn't happen, but it's not usually the cause of species declines except where you have introduced or invasive species dominating an ecosystem, or something like a domestic cat which gets fed whether it kills or not, so has all the time in the world to seek out that last bird or mammal without getting hungry.

But like I said, lapwings never nested on the grass land. Never seen them on the grassland. Only ever on the arable land.
We have big flock overwinter here, but in the arable land.

If a predator number is to high then of course prey species will decline if all chicks killed every year.