Do the RSPB have a secret
Added: (Fri Dec 18 2009)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
The RSPB have a winter secret surrounding their RSPB reserve at Lakenheath in Norfolk.
Due to the reserves proximity to Lakenheath Airbase, bird scaring contractors visit on a regular basis and let off fireworks and play alarm calls on loudspeakers at dusk to keep down the numbers of Starlings roosting in order to deter Birdstrikes by Fighter aircraft.
If you have not witnessed this act already you may want to visit and see for yourself, it is quite a surreal sight on what is meant to be an RSPB flagship reserve. At first glance it’s almost as if a bunch of vandals have invaded the reserve and are having a firework display; but this action is actually with the full sanction of the RSPB.
This obviously has an adverse effect on the Cranes (a rare breeding bird in the UK) which are now frequently being seen well away from the reserve where they breed. According to RSPB staff fireworks are Starling specific and do not scare off the rare Cranes and Marsh Harriers.
Attempts the world over to deter large roosts of Starlings by scaring tactics have failed and normally physical changes to habitats within urban areas have to be made to deter them. The Starling is one of the most indomitable bird species; scaring tactics may work in the very short term stopping them for just a few days but they will be back in tens of thousands. The kind of world war 3 scale disturbance necessary to keep them away will inevitably scare off more sensitive species first and for longer. Last year when the scaring tactics were revered as a success, 40,000 Starlings returned to roost on the reserve within days of the process being halted.
Are the RSPB trying to keep their actions secret and hidden from their membership? Portraying Starling roosts as one of the most spectacular sights of the avian world in Birds magazine, the RSPB publication for its members, they are paying contractors to come onto their reserve at Lakenheath and scare them off. Admittedly, they are being forced into this by the MOD but they should be telling people why they are taking this action. For the RSPB to take people’s money as a registered conservation charity, to create reserves and supposedly protect birds and then enter into a contract with the MOD to go completely against this by actively and covertly scaring off Starlings a red-listed native species is appalling.
The 20,000 Rooks and Jackdaws roosting in the woods on the reserve now are not targeted because apparently the woods were there before the reserve was created.