"K" wrote in message
...
BAC writes

"Ellie Bentley" wrote in message
...
Grey squirrels decimate 85% of song birds. They also invade the nests
of other birds. Furthermore, here where I live there are red
squirrels,
trying to hold on as the grey invader multiplies beyond all belief.

Buy a simple air-gun, with a scope, and simply kill them, instantly and
painlessly, then skin them and put them in the pot. Squirrel is even
more delicious than rabbit or wood pigeon. (Just don't be tempted to
put the meaty-looking tail into the pot too - it disintegrates into
dozens of tiny bits of vertebrae!)


That tail sheath is a very useful device for the squirrel. Not only does
it
provide balance, it is used as a sun-shade, and for signalling, and
distraction of predators. Part of the tail sheath is detachable to allow
the
animal to escape the grasp of a predator. It's a bit much expecting it to
taste good, too.

Although squirrels undoubtedly take some clutches of eggs and nestlings
birds, I believe these 85% estimates to be an exagerration, or there
would
be very few songbirds in areas with a plentiful squirrel population. Is
there anywhere in the squirrels' range with a zero songbird population,
even
those areas where grey squirrels have been established for decades?

Well, she did say they *decimate* 85% of song birds. Since the true
meaning of decimate is to kill one in 10, this would suggest grey
squirrels are killing one in 10 of 85% of songbirds, or 8.5% ;-)

I certainly couldn't make sense of the statement any other way.



Ah yes, I hadn't considered a classical decimation of 85% of birds :-)

"K" wrote in message
...
Ellie Bentley writes
K wrote:
Well, she did say they *decimate* 85% of song birds. Since the true
meaning of decimate is to kill one in 10, this would suggest grey
squirrels are killing one in 10 of 85% of songbirds, or 8.5% ;-)

I certainly couldn't make sense of the statement any other way.

OOK, "she" did not use "decimate" accurately but meant to refer to
recent reports that squirrels totally destroy about 85%.

I just do not understand this statement. It does not square with the
observation that, even in grey squirrel areas, songbirds are not
declining that fast. Or does it mean that 85% of eggs are taken? - the
fact that birds have often two batches of several eggs being their
strategy for coping with a high infant mortality. A species where a pair
reared only 4 young to breeding age, and with each pair breeding only
once, would increase over a thousand-fold in 10 years.


I believe the 85% was deduced by a professor at a London University, from
reviewing other people's reports and papers, for use by a 'save our
songbirds' pressure group, which wants to persuade people to kill squirrels
and sparrowhawks and cats.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
I'd be surprised if they were two large thrush nests at 150 ft.

The trees are about 150', not the nests, though they are certainly very
high and without doubt, using bins, we observed regular daytime visitors
to be thrushes. Maybe this is another one of those unexpected
exceptions? For example, we have a Spotted Flycatcher on a nest of
three buff-coloured eggs. My books say the eggs should be
bluish/greenish. Research has proven that the eggs can certainly be
other than bluish/greenish - three or four different shades and
combinations in fact. There's more diversity out there than we wish to
cope with, I sense.

Ellie.

On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:54:03 +0100, Ellie Bentley
wrote:

K wrote:
Well, she did say they *decimate* 85% of song birds. Since the true
meaning of decimate is to kill one in 10, this would suggest grey
squirrels are killing one in 10 of 85% of songbirds, or 8.5% ;-)

I certainly couldn't make sense of the statement any other way.

OOK, "she" did not use "decimate" accurately but meant to refer to
recent reports that squirrels totally destroy about 85%.

Certainly here in my garden, very close to the top of two very tall pine
trees, probably about 150 feet in height, two large thrush nests were
quickly abandoned very shortly after they were created, some weeks ago,
and the two trees in question are part of the squirrel highway passing
through this property.

I too was brought up believing those little grey squirrels were the
cutest and most loveable of creatures . . . but then again in that
childhood world of Walt Disney I was instructed that ALL creatures were
adorable and each of them loved the other for their adorability. Not
so! It's mayhem and bloodshed out there!

Not least from the fat old crows and breeding hogs that frequent this
group. Whatever happened to the sweet little old ladies in gardening!








Jim Webster,Barrow-in-Furness farmer,troll & president of Cumbria CLA.
would you let your children near this person? see
http://tinyurl.com/kgbnf
now in the sixth year of raving about Pat Gardiner and
still no result.

Need to complain about employees bringing Country Land and Business Association
into disrepute? Why not contact us at
Country Land and Business Association

16 Belgrave Square
London
SW1X 8PQ

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7235 0511
Fax: +44 (0)20 7235 4696
E-mail:


David Fursdon – President


Phone: 020 7235 0511
FAX: 020 7235 4696
Email


Henry Aubrey-Fletcher – Deputy President


Phone: 020 7235 0511
FAX: 020 7235 4696
Email


William Worsley – Vice President


Phone: 020 7235 0511
FAX: 020 7235 4696
Email