Seil Chat

Its that time of year when pheasant chicks are starting to wander but are a month or so off being able to fly making them rather vulnerable.

Its that time of year when you remark that the skies have mysteriously emptied of buzzards and other raptors again.

This year is different.

The pair of sea eagles which had been gracing the skies around the Toad are no longer to be seen.

Go figure.

If you have dogs keep an eye on them when out exercising. Stop them picking up any carrion or similar.

In reply to "novus whatever" about exercising dogs.
This will get me into bad grace with every dog owner on the Island of Seil (and that is a fair proportion of the population).
This "exercising of the dog" is a euphemism for taking the dog out of it's immediate surroundings where it has been trained not to defecate under any circumstances, but to wait until into neutral territory where this will be permitted without recrimination. It may have the slight advantage that the adult in charge does get some neccessary exercise during the course of the evacuation, but the main thrust of the whole caboodle is to make sure that any deposit is not on home territory.
For some peculiar reason the "left overs" from cows,goats,sheep, etc, seem to have a beneficial effect on the environment, but cats and dogs do not seem to be blessed with this propensity.
Now I await the flak.

No flak from me, Jim. Every grassy area around here has large deposits waiting for the unwary foot, including (according to the ferryman who was cutting the grass) the Alcatraz kids' play area - said rock being a popular place for people to go to empty their canines.

Back to the birds of prey, though. There were eagles circling over Dunmor early last year, but they were seen no more come lambing time.

Too many 'trigger happy' cowboys around these parts.

Article in the August issue of "Modern Gamekeeping" by the editor reporting the culling of badgers suggests that the badger cull model should be used to cull:
Otters
Pine Martins
Buzzards
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpr ... /#comments
Otters and Pine Martins are [b]Protected Species[/b] (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 Schedule 5).

Makes you despair.

Can think of a few humans that need 'culling'! How dare they?