Last Thursday I travelled back from almost three weeks at political party conferences and was desperate for fresh air and the chance to see some wildlife. But I also wanted to listen to David Cameron's speech so I parked in the countryside near my home to listen to the radio. As I listened, two red kites were wheeling around in the sky above the car.
They were magnificent, with gorgeous red tails and brightly patterned wings, and showed mastery of the air as they dived and soared together. This sight is now fairly common where I live in Northamptonshire because red kites were reintroduced by the RSPB and others several years ago - and because levels of illegal persecution of wildlife have fallen in lowland areas. Watching those birds made my day.
As I watched, and listened to the speech by the man who might well be the next Prime Minister, I thought of the fact that in many parts of the UK birds of prey are still illegally and cruelly killed - and that some people are making the case that there are too many of them and that reductions in numbers should be legalised.
We need to ensure that future governments continue to give birds of prey full legal protection, and so we must send a very strong signal to all UK politicians. Our bird of prey pledge is doing fantastically well - it is already at 189,000 signatures - the RSPB's most successful campaign ever in terms of numbers. We need to push on to the 200,000 mark to show politicians that we, the public, care about birds of prey and wish to see them prosper in the countryside around us.
Well Mark probably more appropriate on farmers payment by results but what a farce in the telegraph today.Defra etc wasted about a billion pounds by not paying farmers on time and also getting fined by EU,been going on for years there cannot be any excuse for it.Money coming out of British pockets and going into Europe,what a lot could have been done with it as any subsidy results in cheaper food for general public not I can assure you in more profit for farmers.How do these government departments get away with it,I think Mr Benn is Minister in charge.
Just to mention that if you are interested in the red kite story, come along to the RSPB centre in Fineshade Wood. We are situated at the northern end of Northants. Plus, during the winter we will be running our very popular Red Kite Roost walks. A chance to see up to 100 birds at once, with no feeding required. Call the centre on 01780 444691 or email us on toplodge@rspb.org.uk for more details.
Yes Mark the Red Kite resurgence is nothing short of magnificent we hope a few more get into the southern counties as they do seem to have not colonised areas away from their strongholds as much as I would have thought but hopefully that is still to come.Yes the bird of prey pledge is a great success and will hopefully cut down the persecution,well done RSPB as we need someone or a organisation to give us the chance to participate and hopefully make a difference.Levels of persecution may have fallen in lowland areas but hope the RSPB doesn't take this to mean other birds might do similar to Red Kites as this is definitely a one off they have massive advantages that other raptors do not have,such as they breed at a young age,they have relatively large clutch of eggs,rear almost all the chicks and not many of the nests fail.Compare this with Sea Eagles where something like each nest produces something like .7 of a chick each year and I am sure I might be corrected but the point would still be the same.Of course we should not forget the part Gigrin farm and owner who has probably played a massive part in all this I think feeding upto 300 of them about 500 kilos food each week,some may suggest that is why in the south we haven't got many as it has stopped them spreading,just goes to show you can't please all the people all the time but I bet everyone who goes there goes WOW.