Is any interested in a forum on birds in Italy?
We are rennovating an old house in Abruzzo and so have got familiar with the birds that frequent our woods and garden , my favourite is the Golden Oriel . I love to hear their melodious call but I can't say the same about the cackle that the young birds make! We thought it was an owl at first!We regularly see woodpeckers and warblers The Sardinian Warbler is most common and they are known as 'cooked eyes' in Italy!Due to the orange ring around the eye.
I am saddened by the failure of the Italian State to protect wild animals and birds and in particular the deregulation of Hunting Laws.Next year I hope to take part in the anti -poaching camp on the Straites of Messina organised by LIPU the Italian bird protection society
Unbelievably this sort of thing goes on in many parts of Italy!
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I think I'm correct in saying that 100,000 Hawfinches and 1 million Chaffinches are among the species of birds that according to Italian 'Law' may legally be trapped / shot per year in Lombady and Veneto ( LIPU statistics )
Buongiorno Petrirosso,
Welcome from me too. I love Italy and all things Italian, including, of course, the wildlife. I speak a little Italian and have friends in the the north up near the Dolomites and have had some lovely holidays there. OH and I enjoy the birds we see there very much. I didn't realise that the trapping of wild birds went on in Italy and am appalled. Poor little things! Is it just for sport or are they eaten? There can't be much meat on them surely! What a tragic waste of thier lives. I hope this sort of thing is stopped very soon in Italy, all over Europe and beyond though I imagine it will take a long time to achieve this. The breaking of years of tradition is hard so I guess education of the young is the key. Sadly, there may not be anything left for the young to protect at this rate. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. I will sign too.
On a happier note, I look forward to hearing all about the wildlife you encounter in Abruzzo.
Ciao!
There is something new to learn everyday...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skylark58/
Hi Petrirossa - Welcome to the forum. Have just caught up and what an interesting thread you have here. Thank you. I have to aplogise to Blackbird xx, but I have to disagree about the forum being all about uk and uk issues only. Don't think that's what the RSPB is about either. but anyway. thats irrelevant.
I also think that photographs like that should be shown but by including the link means people can choose whether to look or not. Have signed the petition, Petri good luck with it all.
Susan
I'm so pleased that so many people have postive and are interested in bird protection outside of the UK.
Abruzzo is a wonderful area of Italy with mountains,woods and wide rivers .There are bears and wolves there fortunately not in our 'garden' ! You must really love wildlife to live in Abruzzo as in the spring its impossible to walk to the compost heap without disturbing a big black 'serpente nero' snake or a huge hornet trying to find a nesting place in the olives. If you lift up a stone a lizard will look up at you with a cool glassy eye as if to request that you put it back pdq!
There's just as much wildlife inside the house as outside with scorpions and big hairy spiders not to mention edible dormice and the odd snake coming in to get out of the heat ( they will eat rats so we encourage them)
As well as Jays and woodpeckers the oak trees along our bank are home to a black version of red squirells!
The noise at night is awesome as the nightingales start calling in the old blackberry and thorn thickets and the dormice chase one another up and down the oak trees. Many different owls all join the chorus and often a cheeky Pine Marten climbs up on the roof to check for tasty grubs under the old 'coppi'.
As you may have guessed I love it !
Petrirosso, I love Italy and have visited many times and everything sounds lovely where you are, BUT I definitely could not cope with any rats. Hope all the renovations are soon completed.
Have just read all of the above thread with interest. It confirms that there are still many many European countries where the wildlife in general, and birds in particular, are not valued except as sport or for the pot. It's all very sad indeed. I find it upsetting enough that often when we travel in Europe, it seems to be the norm to have singing birds in extremely small cages on hot balconies.
Abruzzo sounds wonderful and no wonder you love it. I will add it to my wish list of places to visit. Am now going to try to sign that petition.
SB
Right I've signed it. Let's hope it does some good. If not, we must keep signing!
Big hairy spiders??? Urgh! Don't like the sound of those at all!
Have signed the petition too! Like everyone else here, I hope that it has some effect!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
I went to the LIPU site to sign the petition, and was looking at the results of a survey they carried out in 2009, on attitudes towards hunting in Italy. This revealed that:
I love Italy, and wouldn't stop going there as a result of the unpleasant experience I've described above - which may be inconsistent of me, as I wouldn't want to go to Malta for the same reason.
The European Commission is pursuing a number of legal actions against Italy for breaches of the Birds Directive. So I'd say if you want to do something else, write to your Euro MP saying that such cases should be pursued strongly and the penalties made stiffer.