There's been a flurry of publicity for Songbird Survival over the last week - mostly in The Times. This organisation, which I always think as being more anti-predator than pro-songbird, and anti-raptor in particular (but maybe I have got them wrong), may be funding the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust to cull some crows and see whether songbirds flourish. Good luck to them - but I hope they take more notice of this research than they did of the research that they commissioned from the BTO which went some way to exonerate predators from being the cause of songbird declines. That study doesn't seem to have altered Songbird Survival's views at all.
The Chair of Songbird Survival is Lord Coke. Lord Coke hails from Holkham Hall. The head gamekeeper at Holkham Hall was charged with several offences, including some under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, last week. This has led to some interesting comments in some places (see here for example). Lord Coke's father, the Earl of Leicester, is not the biggest fan of birds of prey, nor indeed of the RSPB. As I say, interesting.
The article in the Independent makes the link between the head 'keeper being charged and the fate of the Holkham National Nature reserve. That's an interesting point too.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
How vigorous should predator management be? A good question Bob P.
My garden, on the edge of a Suffolk market town, is a 'sink' for non hole-nesting garden birds. The abundant magpies and neighbour's cats see to that. Consequently I do nothing to attract birds into the garden. Sad, but not important in the big scheme of things. Controlling the magpies would be pointless; the cats will always be here, some individuals much more leathal than others!
I've recently spent time at a house in the middle of an East Anglian shooting estate. The area is rich in birdlife and habitats - woods, recently planted copses, game cover strips etc. The arable land between is intensively farmed. Last week a buzzard was displaying almost over the garden and sparrowhawks are regular. Magpies and crows seem scarce and are no doubt controlled, as I expect are foxes.
I'm in no doubt that some wildlife populations need to be managed - with as light a hand as possible - to maintain and enhance the biodiversity we all want to see. Habitat is surely the main key to healthy wildlife populations, and the impact of (introduced) deer on the English woodlands is surely something that needs tackling urgently.