I was out birdwatching this morning. I saw one of the biggest, and most disorderly skeins of mixed greylag and Canada geese I can ever recall in this area, flying south down the River Cam. These were just a part of it:
In total, I reckon there were maybe 400 geese in the air.
Why was that? Because a pheasant shooting party put this lot up at about 11am. There was no armistice for the pheasants or the geese that were fleeing in terror.
I was very angry, I admit.
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As a working person I feel hunted just like those geese.
My wife reckons we should have sung “All we are saying is give geese a chance”
I understant that bird shooting used lead shot. I just wondered if over 100 years of this has contaminated the soil with lead. If so these areas may have to be cordoned off as contaminated areas.
Chris Packham and Wild Justice are good on this issue
I am a supporter
Montbiot also good on shooting
Very polemical and to the point.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/06/britain-open-season-pheasant-shooting-class-politics
Up here yesterday just before getting dark there must have been at least a 1000 flying over Easter Ross area.
Fantastic
For those not aware of the book may I recommend ‘The Meaning of Geese’ by Nick Acheson. It’s the record of a thousand-mile journey by bike across Norfolk’s ancient landscape in search of wild geese. Very under-appreciated birds
It is a great read