I've been lovingly attending to my garden birds and they have been so very hungry this year and was shocked just now when I heard one screech like they do when a cat has got them and when I looked it was some kind of bird that had one of my blackbirds pinned down on the ground. I can't describe it only that it wasn't as big as a pigeon but bigger than a blackbird. Whatever could it have been? Could it have been some kind of hawk? I frightened it away and the lawn is strewn with feathers. Don't know if the poor blackbird is Ok as he's gone under the fence into my neighbours but he's going to be bald poor thing.
Signed the petition
So long,
Apple
A Rotherham lass at heart
i too have now signed the petition.x
trishy :)
I dont think you need tell us on this thread, as it is going of thread thank you. Alan
always many sides to an argument
Rosemary - Please don't blame the RSPB for opinions posted on here. Some RSPB Community threads do get feisty (though compared to some of the other popular birdwatching fora they're always positively genteel). Unfortunately you happened to pick a hypersensitive topic when describing the behaviour of a species you weren't familiar with. As you'll have seen from "subsequent correspondence" birds of prey often suffer badly at the hands of some sections of humankind so the sky tends to fall in on forum contributors who (even by implication) wish ill on Sparrowhawks and their fellow raptors. In fairness I think that most contributors' ire on here was directed (quite rightly I'd say) at someone else.
And Sarah - if your original comment gets censored I'll be leaving this Community.
JBNTS
Every day a little more irate about bird of prey persecution, and I have a cat - Got a problem with that?
Well put John B. Alan
There have been several threads over the past year regarding Sparrowhawks and their habits. Why has this one attracted so much attention with so much personal vituperation against the original poster? Not good!
Sooty, good thread you have started.
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
I think most people are angry about CottageGardener's post on the second page, not necessarily Rosemary's post. Its at the top claire :)
Junior Humble!
"it is not only fine feathers that make a fine bird" ~ Aesop
blog: http://hawkysgarden.blogspot.com/
Hi hawky,
I have actually read all the posts, and if someone wants to make their garden hawk proof, so what. I don' t condone that, but the hawk will go off and feed elsewhere.
What I dislike is the type of many of the reactions to this particular thread.
Claire
removed by hawky :/
So whats wrong with cottage gardeners post (hawky) I see nothing wrong in it, and they have every right to post it, and I am sorry but it just shows that any one who posts that
you dont agree with is shot down in flames, now who is the hipercrit, surely you would not like any one else telling you what you can or carnt do in their own homes, what is wrong with you, and as already said this thread should be closed, not all bird lovers appreciate that all birds have different ways of surviving, I dont agree with bullfighting, thats why I dont go to spain. ?? Alan
What has not yet been mentioned in this thread is that many other birds - blackbirds included - are known to attack and kill other birds, especially fledglings. So to persecute one bird over any other for doing what nature has programmed it to do is, perhaps, a little short-sighted.
Also, there are around 40,000 breeding pairs of sparrowhawks in Britain currently, and around 10-15 MILLION blackbirds wintering here (RSPB figures); where do you think the priorities of the RSPB should be focused? Just a thought...
R.
Hi folks! We appreciate that not everyone shares our views all of the time, and ask you to respect that too - this is a community to share enthusiasm for nature and helping to protect it. Please do not use it to air claims of personal or organisational grievance. Because this thread has now not only gone off topic, but has also broken down we have chosen to lock this thread.
RSPB moderators.
I have a visiting Sparrowhawk and I think it is amazing to watch how incredibly fast it flies.Might I ask you if you eat meat? like many have said,this is all this birds knows and it is survival,it is nature and you cannot change that.
Sarah,You put it better than me,I keep reading this thread over and over in complete disbelief,it is indeed incredibly selfish.This makes you wonder what makes certaon people tick!