The following appeared in Bird Watching Magazine, December 1993
The decision to cull Britain's Ruddy Ducks has outraged members of the country's largest birdwatching club.
The decision to start shooting Ruddy Ducks was taken because British birds are claimed to be crossing Europe and hybridizing with the endangered White-headed Duck in Spain — which could cause that species' extinction.
But the West Midlands Bird Club, with the Ruddy Duck as its logo, says the decision has 'no scientific justification or guarantee of achieving its proclaimed purpose'.
The Club wants a halt to the killing until there is 'positive evidence' that Ruddy Ducks occurring in Spain have come from Britain.
The UK Ruddy Duck Working Group, which is heading the operation, hit back saying: "We are certain there is sufficient evidence that Ruddy Ducks are flying from the UK to central Europe for us to take action, or conservation activities in Spain will be jeopardised.
Methods of control, including coating the eggs in paraffin and shooting the birds, have already been tried on Anglesey but more research is being carried out before the majority of birds are targeted.
The WMBC said: "This is not likely to be the most effective way of tackling the problem, nor do the proposed means of control seem practical or desirable.
"Given the scattered distribution of the birds and the difficulty in finding nests, the WMBC questions whether sufficient eggs could be taken to make an impact.
"Shooting could not be done without serious disturbance to wildfowl and possibly other species being shot in error. Other users of the water such as anglers, yachtsmen and wind surfers would also be affected."
The Working Group, which includes members from Britain's major conservation bodies, replied:
"Research suggests: nest finding is not as difficult as the WMBC says; shooting does not automatically lead to disturbance; and wrongly identifying species should not be a problem.
"Disturbance to people can be minimised and we are undertaking public relations activities designed specifically to test their reaction."
The WMBC believes the answer is to control the relatively small numbers of Ruddy Ducks and hybrids which are already in Spain.
"This is likely to be more effective than anything that could be attempted in Britain".
The Club is willing to involve its members in any objective research into Ruddy Ducks but it will not support the current proposals.
Rumours that the 'big shoot' would start this winter were denied.
"We must stress there are no control measures going on at the present time, only research to understand all the points previously related", said the Group.
[Picture Caption: Male Ruddy Ducks are more aggressive than White-headed Ducks competing successfully for females.]
[Picture Credit: Wayne Lankinen (Aquila)]
Ornithology in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & the West Midlands county, since 1929.
Fetched from http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/press/bw-1993-12.htm on Saturday 17 May 2008 02:01:51
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