Greenfiches are smart birds aren’t they? Their wheezing songs are getting commoner within earshot of our garden on the nicer days.
But if you want to see a spectacular photo then turn to page 6 for the Birdwatch Photo of the Year – wow! No, I’m not showing it to you – you should be subscribed! And if you were then you’d find a host of other amazing images too – the Brambling on page 17 for example.
There is a debate about whether Spring or Autumn is the best season for birding. There’s no contest really – Spring wins every time – every year in fact. It’s as simple a choice as raspberries or strawberries, red or white wine, garden or mushy peas, Bristol or Bath (as cities or rugby teams), Puccini or Verdi, Hen Harrier or Montagu’s Harrier, RSPB or Wildlife Trusts, dawn or dusk, Northamptonshire or Bedfordshire, Springwatch or Countryfile, Labour or Conservative and Guardian or Telegraph.
My column is about this – click here.
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Mark, re your post above supposedly singing the praises of
the greenfinch, in the 1997 Mammal Society survey of cat predation of our native wildlife, 986 cats out of an estimated nine million killed 82 greenfinches, amongst 14,370 “prey items”. There are now, apparently, over eleven million cats in the UK. I wondered if you would like to take the opportunity to condemn the scandal of this relentless killing of our native wildlife by cats. I would suggest this should not be too difficult for someone who claims to “stand up for nature”, and who claims his column is “about this”, followed by a link to a petition calling on the government to support a call for “nature’s recovery by 2030”.
rik – have you started a petition or do you just troll this blog?
I didn’t ‘supposedly’ sing the praises of Greenfinches – I did sing the praises of Greenfinches.
I haven’t got a cat – never have. I wish other people’s cats wouldn’t invade my garden. But then, I don’t have a dog either – never have. I’m not terribly keen on the idea of keeping animals as pets at all.
Mark, a couple of things to start with. Firstly, your lack of attention to detail means you can’t even spell my name correctly. It doesn’t bother me, but I would suggest it says something about you. Secondly, I wouldn’t describe what I do as trolling, and I doubt any other objective person would do so either. I haven’t posted on your blog for a long time, because it is a fairly pointless exercise. When I did so previously, it was, as it is above, to try and get you to condemn the killing of our native wildlife in massive numbers by cats. It is wrong on so many levels Mark, yet it is legal.
I do not accept, and never will accept – and nor should anyone – that someone else “owns” a “pet”, a carnivorous mammal, which they allow to come onto my property, or anyone’s property (including their own), to kill whatever it can. You mention dogs; well, we’ve been here before. Dogs are subject to the law, and are not allowed to roam freely and kill things. Of course they aren’t. You “wish other people’s cats wouldn’t invade my garden”. Let’s ask the obvious question then. If you saw someone’s dog in your garden killing something, would you accept it and “wish it didn’t happen”? Or would you do something about it?
The question therefore is: why is it legal for cats to do this, and defecate in other people’s flower borders and vegetable patches for good measure? We know the answer. It is because those whose supposed remit is the conservation and preservation of our native wildlife make sure that the situation continues.
The purpose of my post above was to give you the opportunity to condemn the scandal of cat predation. I did not expect you to do so, and you did not surprise me. As we approach the breeding season, we also approach the zenith of cats killing our wildlife, including – obviously – breeding songbirds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians. It is illegal to kill any of these, but legal to release a cat to do so on your behalf. Hence there are apparently over eleven million cats now in the UK, able to kill without let or hindrance. Enough said.
I’m a conservationist Mark, and I find it tiresome, to put it politely, to see and listen to people going on about “rewilding” and “nature’s recovery”, and pretending to hold politicians to account , when cats are killing wildlife by the millions and billions.
As I say Mark, I gave you the chance to condemn it, and you did not do so. If you call this trolling, again, I’m afraid it says something about you, not about me.
Those 82 greenfinches were killed without reason or justification by “pets”. That is wrong, for one; for two, they are not then available to a wild predator which needs to kill to live; for three, that is 82 greenfinches which will never be seen (other than dead perhaps), and whose song will never be heard by a human being. As I said Mark, wrong on so many levels; yet you do not condemn it.
rk – you are a troll. As you and I know, you have sent me a string of abusive emails calling me all sorts of names. And all because you have a thing about cats, and it appears another thing about me. You seem an unpleasant person. You’re lucky I publish any of your comments here.
Seriously Mark, is this the best you can do? To address me as Rik in your first reply, and rk in your second? Where will we go next? You’re running out of options, surely.
On the subject of being a troll, I’m happy to let other, more objective, people to be the judge of that. Ditto as to my “unpleasantness” or otherwise. I might also add that I know of at least one case where someone made the same argument I am attempting to make, and was deluged with vitriol and abuse from cat owners. As for having “a thing about cats”; of course, the real issue is that I “have a thing” about nature, as you claim to do. I am for nature, and for the balance of nature, hence my antipathy to cats. I am against anyone or anything which threatens nature, and the balance of nature, and eleven million cats do. It’s not complicated Mark. You could understand it if you chose to do so, but you choose not to.
You say that I have sent you a string of “abusive emails calling (you) all sorts of names”. If that is the case, you must be able to prove it. I have evidence of the emails I’ve sent and received. For the record, I haven’t sent you any abusive emails, firstly because abuse is not something I would employ, and secondly because I don’t need to. I use evidence, facts and reasoned argument to make my case. I do not use or advocate abuse ever, nor the threat of violence, ever. I know how to make an argument Mark, and that is what I have done with you. I have repeatedly asked you straight questions, and you refuse to give straight answers.
Finally, on your recent post on blackbirds, the figure from the 1997 Mammal Society survey was 316 blackbirds killed by the 986 cats. That is fewer than 1000 cats out of an estimated 9 million. It is now 24 years since the survey, and nothing has changed, except the number of cats has increased by at least a couple of million. It is not hard to imagine the effect of that. The survey was conducted from April to August – in other words, peak breeding season. There is, of course, no detail as to whether those blackbirds, or greenfinches, were juvenile birds, parents attempting to raise a brood, or indeed fledglings in the nest. Cats will kill all of those, as we know, and much, much more; but all we have is the record of the stark fact of their deaths. I look forward to your reply.
r – this conversation is ended
2 years ago….0 Greenfinches locally.
1 year ago…2 pairs locally.
This spring, locally they are all over the place…spring is back.
They have made a fantastic recovery.