Last year you may remember that there was a furore over Natural England issuing licences for falconers to take a small number of Wild Peregrine chicks into captivity for captive breeding;
See:
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.
I’ve recently learned from a reliable source, who asked Natural England, that no Peregrines were taken under license in 2020. What with lockdaowns and the unwillingness of raptor workers to cooperate with this proposal I guess that isn’t surprising. I wonder what will happen this year. This blog probably won’t be around to tell you…
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What a rotten disgrace Natural England are for even contemplating this theft of Peregrine chicks. They are there to protect nature not to supervise its theft. Of course the Government is behind this theft but I am surprised that Natural England did not oppose it and surprised Juniper did not stand up against it. If it is tried again this year and it is not opposed by NE then they will no longer be credible as a wildlife organisation. They hardly have any credibility even now.
Am I correct in stating that at least a third of all raptors do not make it through their first winter? Indeed this probably applies to all wildlife. In which case, wild take licences should have no impact, in fact the opposite could well apply.
Also, when a raptor falls from its nest to which it cannot regain, and cannot be returned for fear of disturbing the remaining brood, where do people turn for help? To falconers of course. Centuries of experience enables these hawks to be reared, taught to hunt and then successfully returned to the wild. Don’t demonise falconers, they are massive conservationists who are totally dedicated to the raptors they save.
Was hearing this year the price of female peregrine falcons have rocketed because the Saudis have got into falcon racing .
I’d somehow missed the news about your forthcoming break Mark, and have just scrolled back to Jan 1st to read more. I’m very sorry to read that – as others said at the time this has been a wonderful resource for up-to-date, important news on conservation issues and I will be very sad to see it go. Very best wishes with your future endeavours.