Unusual magpie catch?

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,568]

I used to often magpies and squirrels fighting , swear down 

[paulus 26]

Just now, THE STIFFMEISTER said:

I used to often magpies and squirrels fighting , swear down 

Still do here, amazing what you can see whilst having a fag at the back door. 

[Greyman 25,291]

Just now, paulus said:

f**k me are you telling me they finally found something they can do right? 

Sort of we got swing bridge near me that swells up in hot weather and fails sometimes half open Blocking road and canal they still haven’t thought to put a solar water pump on it with water from the canal, got so pissed off with it last year almost done it myself

[paulus 26]

2 minutes ago, Greyman said:

Sort of we got swing bridge near me that swells up in hot weather and fails sometimes half open Blocking road and canal they still haven’t thought to put a solar water pump on it with water from the canal, got so pissed off with it last year almost done it myself

So No then, There still frigging useless 

[Greyman 25,291]

25 minutes ago, paulus said:

So No then, There still frigging useless 

Getting worse truth be told they have replaced a lot of paid staff with volunteers, bridge keepers used to mow the towpaths and maintain there bridges now none of it gets done, does my nut in looking at lol the dry rusty gears on the bridges that used to be greased regularly, now they break quite often causing blockages

[paulus 26]

The amount of Knowledge about wildlife on this forum is astounding, People see the " The Hunting Life" title and think its all about killing animals, But its far from it, Its about a balance to allow wildlife to flourish. 

[si brown 8,486]

1 hour ago, jukel123 said:

One of my lads took in a long tailed tits nest to show his Biology teacher. He had no idea what it was. He was a good teacher, but my lad had to instruct him on the three different species of UK newt and identified a roadkill ferret which had  brought in for identification by the teacher. To be fair, there's a difference between academic biology and being a naturalist/ countryman.

 

your bang on with that 

as a kid all I ever did was play out in the countryside and with not having things like the internet every Christmas and birthday I got given books on wildlife.. theres a massive stack of books in me mums loft!

the kids think its mad how I can tell them what's what when were out and about

[jukel123 6,570]

32 minutes ago, paulus said:

The amount of Knowledge about wildlife on this forum is astounding, People see the " The Hunting Life" title and think its all about killing animals, But its far from it, Its about a balance to allow wildlife to flourish. 

Scotland was very badly affected by bird flu last year. However the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust continued to feed Whooper swans and other waders as an attraction for visitors. This was madness, the trust was promoting bird flu by deliberately bringing vulnerable birds into close proximity  with one another. They should have doing the opposite. They should have fired blank shells to disperse them. Visitors were also walking amongst dead and dying birds. Thus the bug could have been spread on folks footwear.

When I pointed out these problems to the trust they ignored me. I guess money via entrance fees were a driver in their decision. Shameful.

[low plains drifter 9,467]

I saw a magpie chasing a hen blackbird into a garden closely followed by the cock blackbird who landed on the fence, and was shrieking his head off, don't know if the magpie caught the hen bird, as the fence was too high to see over, but the magpie was on that hen like a heat seeking missile

[si brown 8,486]

when I was a kid I can remember seeing loads of magpies on the rosewood trellis in me grandads back garden, wasn't out of the ordinary to see over 20.. the area was rife with them!

me grandad was a bit of a church goer and I can remember him telling me about the Vicker getting into bother cos one Sunday he told the congregation to trap or shoot them because they were out of control and killing all the other birds!

someone got upset by what he said and it ended up in local news paper