The fans of Songbird Survival

Songbird Survival have been in the news a bit recently - and I wrote a blog concerning them just recently (here) to add to a few mentions they have had in the past (click here, here and here).

One of their supporters appears to be Mr Mark Osborne, a game manager from Banbury, who wrote recently in the Farmers Weekly about the 'extraordinary imbalance' of raptors.  I've met Mr Osborne a couple of times and he is a well known figure in shooting circles. 

When I say that he is well known in shooting circles I refer to the fact that apparently he is known for his ability to take a poor grouse moor and turn it around.  James Marchington, an occasional poster on this blog, and one of the most reasonable figures in the shooting community (at least on a good day) wrote of Mr Osborne's bad luck in running moors where illegally killed eagles have been found over the last few years.  And the Guardian has mentioned Mr Osborne's name too. 

But Mr Osborne usually keeps out of the limelight so it's interesting that these days he appears to be emboldened to speak on the subject of raptors.  And he is not that keen on raptors - I got that impression when we met. 

Mr Osborne writes of the 'massive localised damage being caused by some raptor species' and 'We in the countryside are going to have to accept often significant damage caused by raptors, but equally if this damage is at a level that threatens to wipe out the prey species, or even take their populations to a vulnerable low, then we should be unequivocally pushing for control of raptors in some format.  That way we may actually make some progress.'.

Well, apart from the fact that I live in the countryside, and used to live in the countryside near Banbury where Mr Osborne lives, and I don't share Mr Osborne's views, this is the clearest call for a long time for a reduction in protection for raptors.  This subject never goes away.  Those 210,567 signatures calling for the protection of birds of prey may well come into their own again in the future.

Another trustee of Songbird Survival, Robert Middleditch from Suffolk, was outspoken as an opponent of the proposed reintroduction of sea eagles to Suffolk.  He feared that these eagles would further reduce farmland bird populations.  The prospect of an eagle chasing a skylark or a linnet or a corn bunting takes quite a stretch of the imagination.  The ecological understanding embedded in these statements is poor. 

And it's interesting that some of those supporting Songbird Survival such as Lord Coke and Mr Osborne come from a shooting background.