Rewilding
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I live in the countryside - the real world of mud and muck spreading. And a fox slaughtering chickens unless Steven gets a shot at him. But then I hear of townspeople who have a dreamy image of walking through fields of wildflowers with bird song overhead as they stroll to the river bank to see how the beavers are getting on. Dreamland.
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Fox slaughtering chickens is down to lazy & greedy owners of the chickens who don’t make enclosures Fox proof but skimp by throwing some branches & old wire they’ve found together. The Fox is keeping alive-naturally. I’ve had chickens for decades & not lost one to predation, it’s all in the attitude & thinking it out. Excuses don’t cut it at all & blaming the animal that is acting naturally is laughable-out thinking a Fox is not hard-that’s how we are the dominant species👍🏻
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What about the country folk and farmers who not only dream but act to encourage wildlife. There are many out there and the number is thankfully growing. Control may be the very last resort and not brilliant but linking this with sport and pleasure is wrong in many folks. A family farmer friend once saved an exhausted fox from the local hunt and he has chickens on his farm which he protects as best he can without shooting. He released the fox back into his farm land once the redcoats and beagles were long gone.
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More good news!
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Seems to me the whole show is a festival of the pointless and stupid. Shooters because, what’s the point? Theres no skill involved. Pheasants, because they’re the most stupid birds on the planet. Every year near here there are guys dressed like Rambo in the fields shooting anything that moves while pheasants just opt out and throw themselves under the wheels if any passing vehicle.
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We have some friends who live on the perimitor of a big estate in the Cotswolds where they have many shoots?each year
Pheasant and Partridge neither of which are mature enough to fly out of the way of the guns of the poorly trained? Idiots holding the shotgun
As our friends say the problem is the Estate give locals work
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Yes, SB. Don’t think that as far as intelligence is concerned pheasants are in the same league as the corvids or psittacines but what we can say for a fact is that these introduced birds are not truly wild. More often than not they are placed in environments which are made best for the shooters and estate owners and certainly not best for the birds. When I say birds I will including other species which may naturally ‘get in the way’.
Rewilding can produce income into local areas as the OP indicates. Worth exploring?
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Justb remember these estates are financed by City toffs not local farmers. Likewise the "shooters" Come from the cities in Chelsea Tractors to " network" and have no concept of the countrysi de, or its inhabitants. Its the same ones who advocate this so called "rewilding". Ordinary country folk just get on with enhacing the countryside and provide some control so we get a healthy,diverse natural population.
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The Badgers & Deer would support you on that eh?. . .Nope, me neither🙄. Being an apologist does you no favours fish just accept the fact some like killing to fill their pockets some just for fun. We are way past the eating for survival era☹️
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Dont follow your logic,but guess its another " in denial" post.The killers in this instance are the wealthy and city types. Cant think any country person would spend 25 pounds per bird to shoot tame pheasants and then bury the carcases.We have much more respect for nature than that.
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Let me help you understand fish-farmers say. . .Badgers are costing us money-kill em, farmers & foresters say. . .Deer are eating our profits-kill em.
PS-1) I never mentioned shooting birds. 2) if you don’t follow my logic how did you surmise it was another ‘in denial’ post🤔
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Since when were Badgers fish eaters? . Yes Deer populations in the UK are out of control and creating huge environmental problems. Only one way to control and that is culling. No wish to have a mud slinging debate and see the posts Deleted User.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣
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I’m with you 100% fish, no mud slinging intended nor indulged in just facts. I am for saving the lives of animals you are for taking their lives. That’s not mudslinging that’s basic provable facts🤷🏻♂️
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There is a basic difference here. Wildlife needs a heirarchy and today in the modern world that is human. True country folk just put in place control so we have a diverse wildlife population. The Deer especially in Scotland are overgrazing the habitat preventing regeneration of native trees and deptiving other species of their habitat.Likewise Foxes deprivate ground nesting birds and mamals, resulting in direct loss of chicks and the small mammal food sources of owls for instance. By controlling the number of preditors ( You notice I dont say elimination) we have a balanced and diverse wildlife population. The deniers wont admit that until its too late and species are wiped out. Its taken the RSPB over 30 years to admit fox control is the only way to save the Capercaille, despite the gamekeepers and stalkers on the Abernethy estate which they took over pointing it out that long ago. At that time there was a thriving Capercaile population which they had protected, now endangered. So you can save some wildlife by culling others but not in a free for all.
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Humans are the Apex predators-to allow the natural world to act naturally maybe the Apex predators should stop using the natural world as an unnatural playground.
You don’t eliminate, so what do you do fish put up a sign-‘predators please don’t eat other animals’. . .that’ll cover it. Those pesky predators killing to survive spoiling the fun for the rich who love the excitement of gun & run with high powered rifles from 100’s of metres away.
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On page 32, I posted on 25/01/2022 a couple of photos of our wild flower meadow on our Formby [Merseyside] bungalow.
Some time this summer we are moving to Devon, a new build bungalow on a country lane just outside Hatherleigh. We did not mean to get a large garden but we are faced with this, about 125 foot long to the side of the house. I see another wild flower meadow with hedging and a small orchard in the planning, something for the wildlife to enjoy and for us to have little work to do, once it;s planted.
Colin
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Fisherman
Badgers don't go fishing, we know but they are opportunist Omnivores and would certainly not miss a free meal. Like you and Rocky I am a Country Boy and have the interest of wildlife and their well being at heart. We have the same goal I am sure, just different ways to achieving it..
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I see the confusion-let me help you understand Fisherman(that is you). Badgers are costing Farmers money so they kill them, the rest you most probably understand. If you don’t then I’m sorry I can’t help you🤷🏻♂️
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Again you pick one example. See my post re Capercaille etc.. In any case Badgers carry TB and rampant here in South West Wales. It was the government who decided on the cull policy following scientific advise not farmers. So much so that there is now a cluster of Human TB in Carmarthenshire with over 1500 people being monitored. In your mind I take it that is just collateral damage.
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To think Badgers are responsible for that is iffy🤷🏻♂️. Plus I wouldn’t suggest culling Humans if they have TB, that’s going full Tonto☹️
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The belief that ‘true’ country folk, what ever that may mean, have a complete and sympathetic understanding of what our wild environments are and should be is a real problem for our wildlife today. Many of the so called country folk have their own agendas regarding the countryside, ones which are often at variance to that of our wildlife. They now begin to spin their arguments both for and against rewilding to suit their own ends. For example, the capercaillie is a sub mountain bird which lives in cold ancient coniferous habitats which really no longer exist in Great Britain due to guess what? It’s more to do with the decimation of the capercaillie habitat by so called ‘country’ folk over the decades to suit other artificial habitats and leisure pursuits within these. The eradication of the higher predators to assist this process has also allowed the fox population to become a threat but this threat is often over stressed and then regurgitated as a reason to pursue foxes in the name of sport, particularly in the lowland areas of GB. There is much healing to be done and a complete change in the mindset of our whole society, not just the so called country folk , regarding our National Parks and the whole rewilding agenda. Despite our best efforts it’s probably too late for the capercaillie, global warming may cause more of a challenge to that successful reintroduction, but I do hope not!
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I am sure all posters on here understand The Balance of Nature. Nature defines the balance in a natural world. However humans think they understand the Natural World and so disturb the balance. It is so far out of synchronisation now that it will never be a true Natural World only what humans perceive a Natural World........Their Natural World.
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Here is a worthwhile read which aims to address the issues around our National Parks, the Nature Reserves within and the Rewilding cause.
https://act.rewildingbritain.org.uk/demand-wilder-national-parks?utm_source=Mailchimp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=petition_wnp_mar22&utm_source=Rewilding+Britain+newsletter&utm_campaign=199a8d9e59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_NETWORK_FEB_2022_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6591f59cfd-199a8d9e59-3898424370 -
True country folk were not, The English King who ordered the killing of all wolves. Not the Government of post war who ordered the vast Sitka Pantations taking vast amount of natural uplands out but gave the Pop stars huge tax reliefs. Not the victorian land grabbers using their Industrial wealth to engineer ( Capability Brown style) neat parks and filled their stately homes with stuffed animals and birds ( Calke Abbey comes to mind) Not the present day " Pheasant shooters" who turn up in their Chelsea Tractors and Helicopters.People who dont own an acre of land but who want to Impose rewilding on us rural areas. City firms who want to buy up farms, plant trees, grab the grants all in the name of "Offsetting their carbon footprint". Strange none are anything like me and my fellow small farmer looking after the landscape in a sympathetic way.
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A nice area to move to Colin, hope you enjoy it and making the garden into a wild life friendly area. Last year we stayed on a CL not far away where Beavers have been introduced. We didn't see any but could see what they had been doing, probably not the right time of year to see them but very interesting and in a very beautiful spot.
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Yes Fish, that encapsulates the whole problem. That belief in land ownership! This is the real problem. It’s a man made concept based on a false construct. Nature is allowed no part in this equation. Power and money rule for the minority and nature and the majority of us suffer. If the species doesn’t fit ‘favoured’ models then it’s out! Some of us believe that there is a way to repair that balance and return to a more natural countryside. Worth a try? You never know, we may be more dependant on the ‘birds and the bees’ than some will have us believe!
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