Buzzard are awful. They sit and watch all day. As soon as something moves they lock on!
I think we may have discussed it previously but when I was radiotracking wild greys in Ireland young harriers would come down from the nearby hills in the autumn and I have seen them hunt coveys young and old - but never successful - the adults always saw the harriers coming ages away with a special alarm call and the covey would run to cover - namely gorse bushes. Indeed that alarm call alerted me to the harriers before I saw them! The interactions became more frequent, so much so that we wrote a paper on it:
link.springer.com
I agree that things have changed so much. The data for the sparrowhawks and grey partridge is however more recent than the 1970s.
The sparrowhawk project started by investigating raptor kill rates and the causes of local extinctions on downland in Sussex. It then developed into a study across 20 sites that contained different densities of raptors and partridges, spread across eight counties from Dorset to Lincolnshire. The aim was to gather information about partridge survival and habitat use from radio-tracking under different levels of raptor predation risk. Researchers spent over 3,149 hours gathering data across 20 sites during the winters of 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03.
Partridges and raptors - Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust
www.gwct.org.uk
The post mortems on grey partridge revealing lead shot ingestion were from 1947 to 1992, where successive pathologists at The Game Conservancy Trust carried out 1,318 post-mortems on adult wild grey partridges found dead in the UK. During a study of chick food from 1968 to 1978 on the Sussex Downs, the gizzards of 29 wild chicks aged up to 6 weeks were also examined.
Dick Pott's analysis of that data showed that the incidence of lead poisoning increased from 1947–1958 to 1963–1992. During 1963–1992, the incidence of lead gunshot ingestion was 4.5±1.0% in adults and 6.9±4.7% in chicks. The weights of individual lead shot in the chick gizzards showed a rapid rate of erosion, indicating a short retention time in the gizzard, as has also been reported for adult waterfowl and game birds.
Dick explained in more detail as follows:
It is remarkable that between 1968 and 1978, two chicks sampled from separate broods on the Sussex Downs had, within 3 weeks of hatching, ingested 13 and 14 lead shot. Moreover, the erosion of the individual shot suggests that they were ingested within a short discrete period of time. Somewhat similarly, a grey partridge in Denmark in 1976 had ingested 34 lead shot, a grey partridge in Wiltshire in 1966, 26 (this study) and a pheasant on the Sussex Downs in 1970, 87. All these cases occurred in a predominantly arable environment where cultivation removes most of the shot from the soil surface.
The measured incidence of lead shot in gizzards considerably underestimates the annual exposure because the shot is retained in the gizzard only for a relatively short period of time. The average erosion of lead in the grey partridge chicks, 55%, is remarkable given that the chicks were aged only 2–3 weeks (18 days) and had presumably not ingested the lead on their first day. The erosion in the chick gizzards is consistent with lead shot loss in adult mallard; mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) and bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) and willow grouse (Lagopus lagopus). It follows that the gizzards of some living partridges that contain no lead shot at the time of sampling will probably have contained shot previously.
As regards the 2016 paper using data to model the impact of lead shot ingestion in the grey partridge population, that was based on data from the Potts UK data from 1947-1992, grey partridge in Scotland from 1997 to 2003, a massive radiotracking project of 1,009 hen greys in France from 1995-1997. The data showed direct mortality from lead shot ingestion at 4% and ultimate mortality from lead shot ingestion at 7%. The population modelling based on that data estimated a reduced population size of partridges by 10% due to lead shot ingestion.
Can Ingestion of Lead Shot and Poisons Change Population Trends of Three European Birds: Grey Partridge, Common Buzzard, and Red Kite?
Little is known about the magnitude of the effects of lead shot ingestion alone or combined with poisons (e.g., in bait or seeds/granules containing pesticides) on population size, growth, and extinction of non-waterbird avian species that ingest these substances. We used population models to...journals.plos.org
Interesting, when I was over there a Game farmer from Roscommon was breeding them for release. I tried a few but no joy. Never saw a Harrier or a buzzard where I was. Sparrowhawks were murderous, birds to release pens kills within an hour. Plenty of conflict there. Peregrines were numerous but no problems. Pine Martens were a big problem.I think we may have discussed it previously but when I was radiotracking wild greys in Ireland young harriers would come down from the nearby hills in the autumn and I have seen them hunt coveys young and old - but never successful - the adults always saw the harriers coming ages away with a special alarm call and the covey would run to cover - namely gorse bushes. Indeed that alarm call alerted me to the harriers before I saw them! The interactions became more frequent, so much so that we wrote a paper on it:
Coexistence without conflict, the recovery of Ireland’s endangered wild grey partridge
Coexistence without conflict, the recovery of Ireland’s endangered wild grey partridge Perdix perdix - European Journal of Wildlife Research
By 1995, Ireland’s wild grey partridge (Perdix perdix) was extinct nationally as a breeding species on farmland. The two populations remaining were confined to Ireland’s industrial cutaway peat bogs. One of these populations was deemed viable. In 1996, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of...
Yes, I would imagine different dynamics from place to place. That research on wild grey partridge and hen harriers was on lowland bogland in midlands of Ireland. We found evidence of several sparrowhawk kills. Also two separate occasions where young chicks were found flattened by tractors. The key issue impacting chick survival rate was colder than average temperatures in June. I also studied wild grey partridge in Prague - that was a real eye opener. Grey partridge breeding really well in absence of any predator control on brownfield sites. Hot and dry weather at the right time. Huge diversity of plants and insects from natural regeneration.
www.gwct.org.uk
Thanks. I remember there were various attempts to reintroduce greys using farm reared stock by gun clubs across the country and never successful but there was plenty learned from trying. Some releases were radio-tracked in Lullymore where there were wild greys and I recall one or two pairing with wild birds and a complete failure for reared/wild pairs. That was along time ago and the GWCT advises not to release farm reared birds where there is wild stock. The reared birds are also far more susceptible to predation including birds of prey.
Funnily enough the Irish Game farmer was a Cornishman but at least he was trying.
I'd mention that a lot if the "science" GCWT quote was from RSPB sponsored studies. None of these included any lead isotope mass spectrometry tests. These would have given a definitive answer as to the source of alleged lead poisoning. When asked to carry these tests out, everybody refused. Lead was dead long before any discussions took place.
Avian foxes. Add nothing, just opportunistic killers. Wouldn't kill the last one (or any bearing in mind the penalties) but their numbers are unhealthy. This is what the townies want. Soon there will be nothing but starving deer, badgers, foxes buzzards, magpies and red kites. Packham and the BBC will be chuffed to bits. They will turn our country into a desert.
Interestingly, most good quality house insurance policies that have contents attached, already include liability cover for "private pursuits". NFUM and other competitors of theirs in the rural sector include it as standard, so if you brain someone with a golf ball or your .308 you have cover, provided it is in a non commercial scenario. So being a member of a shooting body for insurance alone may not be necessary.
Lead isotopes are being increasingly used to detect lead ammunition as the source of lead levels in tissues and bones of dead birds. Detecting lead shot in the gizzard is actually a rather crude measure that underestimates incidence of lead shot ingestion by birds because the lead shot is ground down and absorbed and the rest passed through fairly quickly. The studies using lead isotopes are mainly overseas but this technique was used in 2003 for red grouse on moors in Yorkshire and Scotland.
www.sciencedirect.com
In fairness the wads issue has been on the radar for some time - the voluntary transition being for lead shot and plastic wads. All the other aspects you raise are also valid and that has all been in the mix in arguments with the HSE since its review started in 2021. The same arguments hunters in the EU have been making as regards the ECHA review. A timetable has been set for GB and will soon be determined in the EU + NI.Conor, this isn’t a dig at yourself. But everyone seems to overlook the following and this has become quite apparent from a wildfowling perspective :
The majority of steel shot cartridges use plastic wads. Most game shoots use fibre only.
We’re basically swapping something,(lead) that ‘may’ have an effect on wildlife vs something that definitely will litter the countryside.
You have some biodegradable options now but 1) you had to sell a kidney compared to the standard stuff and 2) I’m still very sceptical what microplastics these break down into.
And then to come full circle, is it really the use of lead that’s affecting game sales? Folk aren’t going to start buying it by the bucket because it’s now shot with steel. People can’t be bothered prepping it or with the faff and that’s the main issue. It would have to be sold at a fraction of the cost of chicken and I can see that happening.
Overall the whole idea is a flawed PR stunt. As I’ve said before, I’ve had to drop 2 shot sizes and go up about 6g per cartridge to get the same terminal effect so all things aren’t equal. I’m probably more likely to break a tooth on steel than to suffer illness from the long term effects of lead pellets which generally get spat back out
basc.org.uk
Yeah, err it'll be easy for the antis to survey as well
Yeah, err it'll be easy for the antis to survey as well
Agreed but it's a big if on a large shoot or huge pigeon day!
Sadly the methodology of isotopic mass spectrometry was not, I repeat "not", used in any of the work carried out by those writing the reports that the GCWT saw fit to use as the basis of their position. The position then parroted by the other organisations too lazy (money was no problem) to conduct their own work to confirm or refute the evidence used. Hardly dripping with an excess of scientific rigour.Lead isotopes are being increasingly used to detect lead ammunition as the source of lead levels in tissues and bones of dead birds. Detecting lead shot in the gizzard is actually a rather crude measure that underestimates incidence of lead shot ingestion by birds because the lead shot is ground down and absorbed and the rest passed through fairly quickly. The studies using lead isotopes are mainly overseas but this technique was used in 2003 for red grouse on moors in Yorkshire and Scotland.
Bone lead levels and lead isotope ratios in red grouse from Scottish and Yorkshire moors
Leg and foot bones of adult and juvenile red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) were collected from hunter-shot birds on two Scottish estates (Glendye …
