In their most recent outburst of anti-raptor letters the Daily Telegraph publishes a mathematical breakthrough deserving recognition.
A letter states ‘ There are an estimated 80,000 sparrowhawks in Britain. They require at least one kill per day. The arithmetic is simple and compelling: 80,000 multiplied by 365 equals more than 29 million dead birds a year.‘.
The Fields Medal awaits.
[registration_form]
Ooo! Can I join in!
Blue Tits hold around three and a half million territories in the UK.
Each breeding pair can potentially produce ten fledglings. That’s potentially thirty five million blues tits!
I duly claim my prize.
Anthony – welcome and good arithmetic!
Oh come on Mark just one letter from one probable raptor hating individual.
My maths is sufficiently shaky that I had to get a calculator to check!
Dennis, The problem is one letter is read by thousands, a lot of whom will accept the implied result as accurate. It will interesting to see if the contrary argument gets to enter the letters page.
Another good reason in my book not to buy the Daily Torygraph. If this logic in this example is extrapolated then I see no place on this earth for anything that doesn’t feed on grass – other than the grouse and pheasant-baggers of course 😉