After the high octane day out yesterday I spent most of today in the zen like tranquillity of Otmoor RSPB . Was reflecting a bit on my two some what different days this weekend out in 'the Country'. I find it hard to construct a rational argument against hunting in principle (aside from conservation, environment and cruelty considerations) but personally find observing, studying, photographing and recording more fulfilling. Nonetheless certainly a lot of overlap in both days and the more social (and tipples in the field) side of the shoot yesterday was really nice.
Highlights today were a hunting ring-tail Hen Harrier, 4-5 Marsh Harriers, 1 Raven and Bullfinches and Yellowhammers.
Hen Harrier
Marsh Harrier
Yellowhammer
Bullfinch
Hares
4 comments:
Have you ever seen a fox chased for hours to its eventual death?
Would you like the name of your local Hunt? you might enjoy the 'social' side ...
Fox hunting and pheasant shooting are different subjects. Fox hunting with dogs is illegal for starters.
As for the social comment- I would enjoy taking a hip flask of sloe gin with me in the field when birding and would be good for our bird group to meet up for lunch/ dinner more often.
Just because it's illegal doesn't mean that it's not going on.
I think it's fair to say that there is a big democratic majority that considers fox hunting to be unacceptably cruel. This is also represented in law through the fox hunting ban- I agree the law should be enforced but this is a different issue too- a lot of conservation and wildlife law is not enforced. (Particularly on my local patch which is being systematically destroyed despite layers and layers of protective legislation- destroyed because big money has too much power).
I don't think that there's the same consensus on the cruelty of shooting pheasants etc. It's a different issue. Arguably game meat has better animal welfare credentials than a lot of intensive animal farming??
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