A Touch ‘Pestoff’?

[Peter Seymour-HowellParticipant @peterseymour-howell39349]

Posted by Harry Wilkes on 26/06/2023 21:33:15:

Bwlch Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre is where Peter is referring to they can also be seen in large numbers at Rhayader which is a little further away

H

Hi Harry

Thanks for the reply…no it wasn't the centre that I was trying to recall, it was the coastal town where the line terminated. I have now checked the map…the name I was looking for is Aberystwyth…I still can't say it…🤣

Kind regards

Pete

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 27/06/2023 21:30:37:

Posted by Howard Lewis on 27/06/2023 11:31:30:

Surprised that so many are in favour of Red Kites, when they predate so many indigenous smaller birds.

Since they moved into our area, there are very few small birds around.

Shades of rabbits in Australia., and mink.

Seemed a good idea at the time to introduce anon native species!

Howard

They are not predators of small birds at all. They may take a crow or pigeon, but they aren't very good at that and aren't nimble enough to take small birds or raid their nests.

The main reason for the decline in small birds (which has been huge) is loss of habitat and loss of insects for them to feed on.

Kites mostly scavenge, and they are a native species to the UK, have never been extinct but did drop to about two breeding pairs at one point.

We have lots os small birds, Sparrows & Thrushes. Never seen them been attacked. On the other hand as said further up the thread , I have seen Crows attacking the Kite's.

Stev.

[Robin KingParticipant @robinking15611]

'Paying for the privilege' maybe wasn't as clear a statement as it might have been.

We have two different situations. First as a casual purchaser buying a magazine in a shop, for example, you can look through it pre-purchase and then decided whether or not to buy – if you see content that you don't like, you probably won't buy. By contrast as a subscriber you have already pre-bought and therefore are stuck with whatever the publisher presents to you – like it or not, any element of choice has been removed. I don't subscribe to a magazine with a view to only reading parts and having to ignore others, I feel short changed if that's the case.

I do take the view that if I buy a magazine that's dedicated to a particular topic/hobby then I have a reasonable expectation that the contents will be directly relevant to that topic/hobby, not irrelevant extraneous matter, as I was trying to point out originally.

As I've said before, I fully accept the need for relevant advertising, but equally there is a need for there to be satisfied readers/subscribers too, and perhaps those of us who have been supporting the magazines for many many decades are more sensitive to this as we can compare editions over much longer periods.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Robin King on 27/06/2023 22:51:39:

 

I do take the view that if I buy a magazine that's dedicated to a particular topic/hobby then I have a reasonable expectation that the contents will be directly relevant to that topic/hobby, not irrelevant extraneous matter, as I was trying to point out originally.ditions over much longer periods.

You missed Neil's point, the adverts whatever they may be are not "Editorial Content" You see mention of who many pages of content there are in the mag every so often, that number does not include adverts.

Now that I have seen my copy there is also a broom & dustpan being advertised on the same page, maybe that was the relevant content as it would do to clean up the workshop or around an armchair.

I've taken ME for years and have to put up with most of the editorial content being loco based which has no interest to me.

Edited By JasonB on 28/06/2023 07:30:31

[Robin KingParticipant @robinking15611]

I think we are at crossed purposes here, As far as I can recall at no point in this discussion have I suggested that adverts are 'Editorial Content'.

Time to go kite watching methinks!

[steamdaveParticipant @steamdave]

Posted by Nigel Bennett on 26/06/2023 16:54:19:

On the red kite topic, I had an amazing incident a while ago when I was out cycling. I had just moved out slightly to avoid some road kill in front of me, when a Red Kite swooped low over me from behind, almost hitting my helmet as it passed. In an incredible aerobatic manoeuvre, it dived on to the road kill a couple of feet in front of me and scooped it up; I actually heard its talons scraping on the tarmac before it exited, stage left. It almost became roadkill itself… Beautiful birds, it's wonderful to see them.

Over here, well UK and Ireland, seagulls are regarded as flying rats.

My formative years were spent growing up in Bombay. Over there, Kites are regarded as pests doing the same jobs as the gulls do here. Thousands of them fly over the city. They would swoop down and snatch sandwiches from the hands of unaware young kids as well as feasting on street wide refuse and also picking flesh from the bones of dead bodies (literally) in the Towers of Silence.

Don't get me wrong, they are a wonderful sight (the Kites, not the gulls) and it is good to see that they are making a heathy return to our skies. Here, in the west of Ireland we are proud to see the return of breeding Sea Eagles following the re-introduction of them some 10 years previously.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The Red Kites in South Oxfordshire are becoming a nuisance, reports from people in our village are appearing of al fresco diners coming under attack, one woman reported having a slice of pizza taken which she was taking a bite from. The village duck population has virtually disappeared, a sheep had its udder and tongue devoured by kites. They seem to have developed a taste for small live animals which is beyond a diet of carrion. People in the village are feeding them because they are spectacular when the swoop into the garden and this is probably a factor in an exploding population since they were reintroduced to the Chilterns over 20 years ago. I can sit in the pub garden and easily count 15 of them circling over the village, it has been suggested that garden feeding is giving them an easy food supply which is increasing the population beyond the natural supply of carrion would support. I spent a day with a sheep farmer in Devon and crows were his pet hate, as a sheep with a full fleece can fall over and not be able to get back to its feet the crows will take an easy meal of the sheep’s eyes, the sheep mutilated by the kites was probably a faller and may or may not have been dead when the kites started their meal. I have seen one or two kites that have been killed on the road as they feast on large road kill like badgers and deer, they can probably just collect a rabbit and devour at their leisure in a safe place.
Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 28/06/2023 11:43:37

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