The headline on this Guardian article makes about much sense as Songbird Survivals stance on Sparrowhawks, but it does demonstrate just how hard it is to make sense of the various licences under which the guardians of the countryside can legally kill our birds. interestingly, Norfolk birders will note that their feral Egyptian Geese, having reached a heady national population of 1100 pairs, are now on the wanted list. Though theyre really not, as The Guardian put it back in May this year, now abundant across Greater London and surrounding counties they have very recently spread out of East Anglia into the gravel pits of the Home Counties - and farmers apparently now want them dealt with. Its hard though to see how strong enough evidence on damage the species has caused to the crops of the UK can have been gathered already, A 2010 BOU paper on the impact of Egyptian Geese (and of Canada Geese) concluded that there was very little known about their environmental effect at all (bou.org.uk/bouproc-net/non-natives/rehfisch-etal.pdf), and a factsheet on non-natives last updated in June this year says of the economic impact of the Egyptian Goose that they are regarded as agricultural pests in parts of their native range because they sometimes feed on or trample crops, but no economic impacts have yet been reported from the non-native range (brc.ac.uk/gbnn_admin/index.php?q=node/82). Clearly someone knows much more than us, and of course we all know just how rigorous government is in pursuing data when it comes to making science-based decisions about allowing our wildlife to be managed...
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 20:06:47 +0000
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