The Psychotic Monkey » nature

RSPB Birds of Prey campaign

The Monkey — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:02:05 +0000

With more and more reports of birds of prey being killed with the use of illegal poisons, I thought it time to publicise a campaign which I feel is worthwhile. The RSPB is running a campaign for members of the public to sign a pledge that they want the killing of birds of prey to stop. The campaign homepage is here and I’d ask anyone reading this to sign up to it. You don’t have to be a member of the RSPB to sign up. It’s not often I feel strongly enough to post a link to a campaign, but having been fortunate enough to do some falconry myself, and to see just how powerful yet graceful these birds are, I felt that this was one that was worth posting about.

Sea eagles released into wild

The Monkey — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:07:09 +0000

In more great birds of prey news, a batch of white tailed sea eagles have been released into the wild in Scotland (BBC report here). This is part of a project aiming to re-introduce the bird back to eastern Scotland. All the birds have been tagged and can therefore be tracked so that members of the project team can watch their progress and monitor where they end up.

All 15 of the birds were taken as chicks from nests in Norway, and were raised with the intention of re-introducing them into the wild. This release follows on from last years successful release program, and it is hoped that some of the new birds will meet up with last years releases, some of which travelled as far as the Argyll islands, and the island of Mull. Up to 20 new birds a year will be released for the next 3 years.

This really is fantastic news for the survival for these iconic birds (affectionately known as “flying barn doors”). Having been one of a very few privileged people to handle one of these birds I was absolutely amazed at the size of the juvenile that I handled (with a wingspan approaching 6 feet) and certainly knew what was going on when it clocked me on the back of the head with its wing! Handling one of these birds is one thing, but I’d love to see one of these birds in the wild, so I’ll be watching with interest for any more news from the East Scotland Sea Eagles project.

Red Kites return to NI

The Monkey — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:54:25 +0000

Fantastic news from the RSPB (here) about the re-introduction of red kites to Northern Ireland. Previously missing from Northern Ireland for the past 200 years, their re-introduction is an important step in ensuring the survival of the species. And if you’re in the area of the Clarkhill Valley then you might want to pop along to Bannastown Road, Castlewellan between Friday 22nd August and Monday 25th August (11am – 4pm each day), or every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday thereafter, to view these birds in this spectacular setting.

Great news indeed, and another success story for the continuing work of the RSPB with birds of prey.