Raven Cull

[Macsky]

Best news I’ve heard in ages, hope they allow the same in other parts of the country.

http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/anger-as-gamekeepers-given-green-light-for-raven-slaughter

Would be very interested to see how that actually go about getting the brutes, they are not an easy shot.

 

[MRT]

Had one in a tree the other morning speaking to me so close I could have hit it with a stick. I left it as Ravens are not generally a problem at home and had a dead lamb eye gone blood everywhere to pick up later.

 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

ah that is good news Pity they cant do same with badgers also...

 

[A1an]

I hope this is a sign that the authorities are no longer bowing to the antis and are starting to see there actually is a problem with some of the law as it stands.

I saw 50+ ravens in the lambing fields today.

 

[Macsky]

Having terrible bother with them the last couple of weeks, weak lambs, strong lambs, newborns, couple of days old, makes no odds, they work in teams and are pretty formidable.

Worst is when they’ve taken the tongue out of an otherwise excellent lamb and you have to dispatch of them, they are cruel birds.

 

[Sheep92]

Place is full of them over here as well, its madness that the dirty f@#ks are protected

 

[unlacedgecko]

Having terrible bother with them the last couple of weeks, weak lambs, strong lambs, newborns, couple of days old, makes no odds, they work in teams and are pretty formidable.

Worst is when they’ve taken the tongue out of an otherwise excellent lamb and you have to dispatch of them, they are cruel birds.

They'll take the guts and eyes out of lambing ewes as well.

 

[hendrebc]

Having terrible bother with them the last couple of weeks, weak lambs, strong lambs, newborns, couple of days old, makes no odds, they work in teams and are pretty formidable.

Worst is when they’ve taken the tongue out of an otherwise excellent lamb and you have to dispatch of them, they are cruel birds.

I feel your pain
They will get worse and worse as they get bolder and learn what they can do with thise massive bloody beaks. I f**king hate the barsteward things

 

[Longlowdog]

The greentards are making a right meal of it. Will it take trailer loads of dead lambs being scattered over the pavements of our capital cities in protest before the government realises that you can't link payments to greening if we don't have the means (within reason) to protect our harvest. There has to be a balance.
It is a shame that the licence has been granted for such a contentious area without substantive trials in less 'newsworthy' areas beforehand to lend credence to this decision.

 

[Macsky]

There are 40+ working here just now, the numbers have rocketed hand in hand with the increase in Sea-Eagle numbers.

The Eagle kills at will, lambs, hoggs and ewes in places, leaving an abundance of carrion on the hill, hence the Ravens always have a meal. In their numbers they will drive an Eagle away from its kill after its had its fill, and rather than the Eagle being able to come back to that carcass, the Corvids have stripped it bare, forcing the Eagle to kill again, its a deadly cycle, and as long as there is easy prey, the sheep, and the birds remain protected, the problem is only going to get worse.

It is already driving the sheep off the hills and even the lower ground here, and if that is not stopped then SNH is responsible for creating an unsustainable population of these predators, which won’t be good for anyone.

Incredibly frustrating.

 

[It was already broken.]

The article in my newspaper said the Raven cull was to protect wading birds officially and a side order of protecting grouse moors. Not a single mention of anyone farming any sheep.

 

[Happy]

Feel for everyone affected by them. Must be soul destroying having to put up with them in those numbers at lambing.
Unfortunately I can't see policy on these fronts getting a great deal better in future years wth Goves Tory donating green campaigner chum Ben Goldsmith now on the board of DEFRA.

Wilding the countryside is all they, SNH, RSPB etc. are interested in.
Probably frustrates them greatly why so many sheep farmers continue to carry on whilst up against so much

 

[Macsky]

The article in my newspaper said the Raven cull was to protect wading birds officially and a side order of protecting grouse moors. Not a single mention of anyone farming any sheep.

No sheep aren’t a priority, but if the waders are then that’ll do! Their numbers have definitely disappeared in recent years here, which is a shame, how could they survive when up against the Ravens? Why protect the strong at the expense of the weak and vulnerable? I can see the attraction of protecting Eagles(although at their numbers now, control measures should be introduced), they are magnificent birds, and they do attract tourism to the area, if at a great cost to farmers, but why Ravens? Who or what benefits from their existence??

The place I’m working on at the minute has applied for an AECS scheme, in which much of the ground goes under management for waders, which in reality changes next to nothing on the management side, showing how wader friendly the farming practice is already, but it’ll do no good unless the Corvids are dealt with.

 

[SLA]

Flood facebook with trail cam footage of them attacking fit healthy stock, will still have the idiots saying its fake and they only eat dead or dying. Unfortunately most people don't understand the concept of population control. This is the sort of important and educational issue that should be properly investigated and researched and reported. The likes of countryfile could make a massive impact on educating people about the real rural issues if they made half an effort

 

[Dry Rot]

Flood facebook with trail cam footage of them attacking fit healthy stock, will still have the idiots saying its fake and they only eat dead or dying. Unfortunately most people don't understand the concept of population control. This is the sort of important and educational issue that should be properly investigated and researched and reported. The likes of countryfile could make a massive impact on educating people about the real rural issues if they made half an effort

Countryfile won't get involved because it is controversial.

But I agree, Facebook (and other social media) is the way to go. The trouble is, those experiencing problems will be too busy when the birds are doing the damage.

When I was doing fox control, I was getting reports of foxes attacking lambing ewes and at least one case of them attacking big feeder Park type NCC tups. The foxes were hunting in family groups. With modern technology, it ought to be possible to get that on video. Nobody believed the reports and said it was dogs, but the tracks were clearly visible in the snow and there is no doubt in my mind that it was foxes.

The Sea Eagles were first thought to be harmless because they eat fish, don't they? But if lambs are easier to kill, they will switch. That's what the tree huggers just don't get.

 

[Danllan]

Countryfile won't get involved because it is controversial...

With modern technology, it ought to be possible to get that on video...

That's what the tree huggers just don't get.

With the increased use of technology, and us carrying phone-cameras, there will be more and more and more evidence. And it is this which will, possibly even against public opinion, change public policy. Take away the argument that events such as X, Y or Z are 'one-offs', demonstrate that these are frequent behaviour patterns, and there is no rational argument against controlled culls.

 

[Macsky]

Yes more footage is definitely needed, but you would need to employ someone with some serious zoom capacity to capture footage from afar to really get them in action, wouldn’t be cheap. It would take some patience to stand and record a lamb being taken down if they were under your responsibility, and if you did there would be cries of “why didn’t you stop it!?”

Perhaps with the advances in camera technology a remote camera in the field would be the way to go, but I wouldn’t know where to start.

 

[Anonymous...]

I was wandering a field full of ewes and lambs we had turned out ... I had my air rifle in hand, a neighbour seen me and commented you look like you mean business, yup I replied bloody crows are getting the lambs, she replied yes but only dead ones.
I showed her the still warm lamb with a yard of intestine trailing from it's anus, she said it must have been dead already
Next day she phones there's a lamb at the fence where our garden meets the field ,crows attacking it ,the poor things lifting it's head it's still alive.
Not that I want to lose stock but at least she seen the reality of what the evil buggers do

 

[Macsky]

Aye it’s amazing how folk just seem to be conditioned to believe these fabrications, as if farmers are some sort of bloodthirsty maniacs who just love spending all their money and time destroying as much wildlife as possible!?

It is hard evidence that is needed indeed.

 

[Fallowfield]

how could they survive when up against the Ravens?

##

So at what stage in their evolutionary history did the 'evil' raven begin to pose an existential threat to waders?