This is a great image of one of three young Peregrines from a brood somewhere in the north of England.
It’s an image to keep in mind when considering the controversy over Natural England’s licensing of removal of Peregrine chicks from nests for the purposes of ‘falconry’.
Previous blogs on this controversy:
16 April: Natural England issues licences to take Peregrines from the wild where this blog broke the news that Natural England had issued licences to take Peregrine chicks from the wild for the first time for decades
16 April: Guest blog – taking Peregrines from the wild for falconry by Gary Wall where one of the licensees explained the justification for this activity
17 April: Wild Peregrines for falconry (continued) where I gave my thoughts on the subject
1 May: Peregrines and licences by Bob Elliot – commentary on the subject from the OneKind chief exec.
6 May: News: Natural England and the Peregrine chicks – not quite true… where we learned that the chicks to be taken were not all going to be the smallest chicks in the nest.
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Superb. That’s how a young Peregrine should be, flying free and not at the command of a human.
Free as a bird. Just like it should be.
Yes, that’s how it should be. They are born free and should be flying wild.
I have been following this debate closely ever since Mark’s blog late last Autumn on the falcon operation in Moray.
Natural England granted three people a licence to take peregrine eggs from the wild for conservation purposes. One of those people, Gary Wall, posted and commented extensively on Mark’s blog on this issue throughout April this year. He claims that the peregrine eggs will be used for conservation.
Three days ago Gary Wall/Falco Scot commented on the ‘Stop the Cull’ facebook page:
‘So where do you think the Arabs will get their falcons from then if they can’t buy captive bred ones? I’ll tell you where, the wild, but there would be none left by now if captive bred one’s hadn’t been available for the last 30 years! Or maybe you’d prefer the Gulf Arabs were denied their cultural heritage too!’
Is there something I am not getting here? Who still believes that Mr Wall is going to use the peregrine eggs for conservation of our natural wildlife only? Google him, he seems to have a long history of dealing with ‘Gulf Arabs’, i.e., breeding and selling birds to them.
And why should we indulge these ‘Gulf Arabs” desire to pursue their cultural heritage to the detriment of our native bird population? I get what GW is saying, namely that if we don’t provide captive bred birds then they will be taken from the wild illegially. Now, here’s a thought: Stop the export of these birds altogether, if you can’t ensure that they haven’t been taken from the wild.
Does the secretive ” from a brood somewhere in the north of England”, suggest this springs
production ?, bloody early.
Charlie R. Gary Wall’s comments have just shown us what these peregrines are really intended for.
Wildlife crime will no doubt continue in these countries regardless of GW’s so called conservation project.
Cultural heritage? Why have these Arab countries persecuted their wildlife to the point they need to import hybrid birds from other parts of the world. (many of which are totally unsuited to the arabian environment). Let’s wake up!