Are we now having to cull deer to save song birds ?

Certainly a cull of badgers would help ground nesting birds such as Curlew, Lapwing, Skylark, Duck etc.
Culling raptors would also be a great help to birds in general but horror, horror, they would not permit that.
I have a Sparrow-hawk which pesters the birds in my aviaries, through it I lost seven Budgies recently and a friend in a different area lost seven birds including a Parrakeet worth in excess of £100 .

HWH.
 
Badgers,raptors,cats and changes in farming practice have all contributed to certain species of birds demise
Along with general bunny hugger attitudes,ie take marten they will wipe out a nest,can't do a thing about it,I mean they are bonny but everything has a balance
Years ago keepers could manage the country as they saw fit whereas now you have to apply for licences,buzzards,which you never get
Everything has it's place but some are beginning to take over,ie badger as Stag says peewits and partridge have suffered not to mention hedgehogs
 
After reading the link to the daily mail it makes me wonder what field these doctors are experts in. If you ask me it could be something to do with the thousands of black winged muggers and magpies, then the grey squirrel then all the raptors and badgers. Looks like the deer is public enemy no 1 if it ain't car accidents it's wiping out grouse and trees. Next they will have the military shoot everything on sight. I'm all for balance me.
 
Is it just me or is that roe buck a unicorn!? Its probably a photoshop that they have robbed from somewhere not realising that roe deer arent like that!!
 
Its very strange, the BTO press release its titled:

"Deer are bad news for birds"

here:

Deer are bad news for birds | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

However, even the BTO press release says

"This study is not suggesting that deer are the only, or even the main, factor driving woodland bird declines; many other factors are potentially implicated."

Which sort of undermines the attention grabbing headline.

Abstract should be here:

Modelling largescale relationships between changes in woodland deer and bird populations - Newson - 2011 - Journal of Applied Ecology - Wiley Online Library

but I don't seem to be able to open it at moment
 
OK, got the abstract... which heads off with


Novel analytical methods are applied to extensive national bird and deer monitoring data, to examine whether populations of 11 woodland bird species that are associated with dense understorey habitats in lowland England may have been depressed following increases in the abundance of three widespread and abundant deer species:

So, it indicates to me that there is no original data, merely a statistical correlation between higher deer populations and lower bird populations...

Lesson one in science - correlation is not causation.

I'll defer from further comment till I've seen the full paper rather than just the abstract.
 
So, it indicates to me that there is no original data, merely a statistical correlation between higher deer populations and lower bird populations...

Lesson one in science - correlation is not causation.

I'll defer from further comment till I've seen the full paper rather than just the abstract.


How about this?



Irrefutable evidence I would say. :D
 
Its the bankers fault anyway.
Increased bonuses is directly related to lower bird populations using the same statistical techniques. Do I hear the call for a cull anywhere :)
 
At first I thought this was a wind up, now ive thought about it, it seems to be right in line with the tree hugging desk jockey Dr newson tpyes way of thinking, and there are an increasing number of these ones breeding like buzzards and grey squirells too.
 
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