THIS WEEK’S NEWS

They “I have never been in trouble with the

police, my last speeding ticket was
in 1979, yet I was made to feel like a
“Would these bank holidays
not be much better in the
shooting season instead of

GOOD said criminal.” Farmer Tracy

St Clair Pearce has her
now?!” Chris Horne from
GunsOnPegs tells his

what?
guns confiscated after Twitter followers why he
a confrontation with isn’t happy with so many
trespassing travellers. days off work.

The Royal Mail will issue a set Monk parakeets are

of waterway-themed Birds seen as posing a
of Britain stamps on 19 May “potential threat” to
with mallard and greylag national infrastructure
geese by artist Robert Gillmor.

Plans to release common

cranes into the West Country
after 400 years came closer
to fruition as 14 crane eggs
were taken from Germany to
Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

THIS WEEK BIRD LIFE

Many UK sheep farmers are

still suffering restrictions on
livestock movement 25 years
after the Chernobyl disaster. Parrots may be shot
According to research the
in eradication plan
DEFRA announces plans to eradicate monk parakeets as
number of cuckoos arriving in
Britain in spring has declined
growing numbers threaten wildlife. Will Finch reports

D
by 44 per cent since 1995.
EFRA has Monk parakeets build huge crops and native British wildlife.
confirmed that the communal nests, sometimes “This invasive species has
UK’s population of as big as six feet across, and caused significant damage in
South American those built on electricity pylons other countries through nesting
monk parakeets in the USA have caused power and feeding activity and we are
is to be removed cuts, particularly when the nests taking action now to prevent this
from the wild. become wet from rain. happening in the UK.”
The feral birds have lived in A DEFRA spokesman told There are thought to be

BAD
the UK since being released Shooting Times that officials only around 100 of the birds
from captivity in the 1990s. would trap the birds or re-home currently living wild in the
D. KJAER / P. QUAGLIANA / WWT / ALAMY

Supporters of a cull point to
evidence from the USA, where
the bird caused great damage
to national infrastructure and
crops, and say that similar
damage could be caused here
if nothing is done to prevent it.
them in aviaries, and shooting
could be used as a last resort.
He said: “Control work is being
carried out as part of a DEFRA
initiative to counter the potential
threat monk parakeets pose to
critical national infrastructure,
UK, mainly in the Home
Counties. However, according
to DEFRA, numbers of the bird,
which survives easily in cities
and across a range of climates,
could rise dramatically over the
coming years.

6 Shooting Times & Country Magazine 4 May 2011

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