Pheasant egg and crows!

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Found this discarded pheasant egg yesterday.

Nothing particularly special about that I know but when you turn it over you see there is more to the story!

It now becomes clear it was a victim of predation. By a member of the crow family I think?

Look closer and it appears to have a small feather stuck to the shell. So it may of had a chick in side and or came from a nest!

 

Hunters see the wild for what it is, read real.

Others see the wilds according to their own image, their ideal, read not real!

[shovel leaner 7,648]

7 minutes ago, timmytree said:

That's what happens in the wild, always has, always will.

I'm glad it was a pheasants egg and not a grey partridge. Ironic that most of us will shoot grey squirrels to protect native reds yet we will also shoot native corvids to protect foreign invasive pheasants.

I don’t control grey squirrels to protect native reds , because there are none around here to protect . I control them because they do so much damage to our native Beech woods , and they damage feeders . I also control Corvids , the main reason is because , if there numbers go unchecked they strip the maize covers and eat the wheat that is supposed to be for pheasants. There is also a knock on benefit of this control for native and non native species in the breeding season . But I am being paid to do this control by people who want to shoot pheasants . Chris Packem and the RSPB , driven by their desire for government money and their need to be the ones seen to be protecting birds , see gamekeepers and their success at creating diverse and secure breeding habitats as the ones in the way of their bird protection monopoly , and the millions of government pounds they need to plug the massive hole in thei pension fund . It really is all about money . The root of all evil . 

[Sausagedog 7,381]

1 hour ago, timmytree said:

That's what happens in the wild, always has, always will.

I'm glad it was a pheasants egg and not a grey partridge. Ironic that most of us will shoot grey squirrels to protect native reds yet we will also shoot native corvids to protect foreign invasive pheasants.

One of the reasons the grey partridge is missing in vast areas is from the same predation.

The pheasant egg is an ideal example of all the species that are prayed on by the out of control predators.

Sod public opinion, they don't see the decline in the grey partridge, meadow pipet and lark! The raided fly catcher nest, the visiting warblers, or don't they matter, bloody foreigners.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

The idea of control is a funny one . I have a view that you are only controlling a species when you estimate the population and reduce it significantly by whatever target you give yourself. I try to reduce our Corvid population by as much as I can and I estimate that I probably reduce it by 50%_75%. The main way I do this is with ladder traps . I do this in January/ February when the birds are hungry and less cautious. I can kill good numbers doing this . Also some of the beaters like decoying them and take good numbers. I think every Corvid counts and certainly keep shooting them , but it’s a bit like pissing in the wind when you have large numbers hitting your feed rides . This only really applies to pheasant shoots, the fact that you spin wheat along vast tracts of land will attract larger numbers of birds to enjoy a free meal during the winter months . On unkeepered ground you will encounter less and your efforts are definitely valid . I edited this because I think I gave the impression that unless you killed loads it wasn’t worth doing. That’s not the case . 

Edited June 22, 2019 by shovel leaner