The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published positive cases of bird flu in wild birds since the last two weeks of December 2016. These figures used to be updated weekly but updates are now less regular – click here. Positive cases are dead birds sent in to the authorities in each of…
Tag: peregrine
Sunday book review – The Peregrine Thief by Alan Stewart
This is the final book in Alan Stewart’s trilogy of the exploits of Detective Sergeant Bob McKay – see reviews of Calls from the Wild and Cruel Intentions. The author wrote several non-fiction books (eg Killing by Proxy) about wildlife crime before turning to the freedom that fiction gives an author to fill in the…
Sunday book review – The Peregrine Falcon by Richard Sale and Steve Watson
This is a monumental book about what is regarded as the fastest animal on the planet (or flying over it). At over 500 pages, and amply and attractively illustrated, this is a tribute to and reference source about a marvellous bird. The brilliance of this bird is well captured in many of the photographs but…
No Peregrines taken for ‘falconry’ this year – NE say
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…
Peregrine by Brian Leecy
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…
News: Natural England and the Peregrine chicks – not quite true…
You’ll probably remember the furore over Natural England licensing the taking of 6 Peregrine chicks from the wild in England. Well, when I say remember, it has hardly died down. See my original blog, Gary Wall’s guest blog, a further blog by me and a guest blog by OneKind’s Bob Elliot. We all thought, probably…
Guest blog – Peregrines and licences by Bob Elliot
Bob was the head of the investigations and species protection team for the RSPB for 14 years, fighting wildlife crime both in the UK and internationally. He is now the Director for OneKind, an animal welfare charity based in Edinburgh, that exposes cruelty and persecution to Scotland’s animals via investigations, research and campaigning. @onekindtweet OneKind…
Wild Peregrines for falconry (continued)
Yesterday’s two blog posts on the decision of Natural England to license the taking of a very small number of Peregrine chicks for captive breeding by falconers caused quite a storm (see here and here). Here are my thoughts: Many thanks to Gary Wall for writing a blog and for responding to all of the…
Guest blog – taking Peregrines from the wild for falconry by Gary Wall
Mark writes: Gary Wall is a falconer and I’m grateful that he took up my offer to write about the licence he has been issued by Natural England to take a small number of Peregrine Falcons from the wild. This blog gives more detail and background. Gary writes: Having been a falconer for 47 years…
Natural England issues licences to take Peregrines from the wild
I’m interested to see that Natural England has issued licences for falconers to take 2 Peregrine chicks from the wild in order to establish a stud book of British Peregrines. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I would like to know what are the licence conditions and from where it is envisaged that…