7February 2009 CUMBRIA FARMER
On the subject of game
birds, natural predators
and other dumb animals
L
ife's a game � or so
they say � and at this
time of the year your
Old Boar's life pretty
well is game... game birds at
least.
Shooting is becoming ever
more popular despite the best
efforts of varied and ragged
lunatic fringes, while the
demand from a public seeking
natural food, real food, and �
let's be honest � cheap food
grows significantly year on
year.
This growing demand has
prompted talk of pheasants
being intensively farmed and
offered for sale through super-
markets all year round. They
really don't get it, do they?
But it isn't only man who
fancies a tasty young bird
once in a while, of course. (The
spirit of Frankie Howerd lives
on, God bless him!) Anyone
rearing game can expect to
attract the attention of a mul-
titude of creatures wishing to
partake of dinner. Conflict is
inevitable.
There will not be too many
game-keepers out there who
haven't succumbed to traps,
poison and the business end of
a 12-bore in order to keep
predators at bay. And there is
little doubt that the dramatic
reduction in raptor numbers
is a direct consequence of
game conservation, but there
is always a way...
Step forward the Langholm
Moor Demonstration Project,
which has shown conclusively
that game and natural preda-
tors need not be mutually
exclusive � Langholm being
home to a colony of hen har-
riers, a near-extinct species of
raptor that is particularly
partial to a nice plump
grouse.
By way of a programme of
`diversionary feeding', the
predators are given plenty of
carrion to divert their atten-
tion from what is being re-
established as an extremely
viable driven grouse moor.
A total of 10 young harriers
fledged at Langholm last year
� the highest number since
2002 � while the grouse remain
unaffected.
Lads and lassies of the
Langholm Project; the Old
Boar doffs his bonnet tae ye!
Still on the subject of per-
secuted predators, the `return'
of the pine marten to Cumbria
must be hailed as very good
news indeed.
This not-so-wee timorous
beastie was declared extinct in
England and Wales in 1994, but
it has now reappeared at
Bassenthwaite and in
Grizedale Forest.
Until recently, it was
thought that the UK popula-
tion of pine martens dwelt
solely in the far north of Scot-
land, but now they have been
spotted at various sites
throughout the northern half
of the country.
How they got from Speyside
to the shores of Bass Lake
remains a mystery � the Old
Boar's favourite theory is that
one or two hibernating spec-
imens were transported here
by a visiting Scotsman sport-
ing a particularly luxuriant
sporran!
The poor old marten was
previously driven from our
land by farmers and landown-
ers who saw him as a threat to
poultry and game, and so
hunted and poisoned him
without mercy.
In reality, he is far more
interested in the small birds,
insects and rodents found in
his natural habitat, which is
woodland.
Oh yes � and he's quite fond
of eggs, so the Osprey Watch
people had better put down a
couple of cartons of Cumber-
land's large brown if they are
going to have anything to peek
at this year.
Although it might just be
worth the sacrifice, if only to
keep Bill Oddie (if ever a man
were aptly named!) off our TV
screens for a day or two.
Remaining with cruelty to
dumb animals, I'm sorry but I
simply must shine a light on
the shadowy souls who make
their livings as part of our cli-
mate change industry.
Have you noticed it? A sub-
tle and profound move it may
be, but the words "global
warming" have gradually
given way to "climate change"
as the constantly discredited
(and extremely well-paid)
mouthpieces for the cause
move the emphasis of their
doom-laden prophesies from
"warming" to "changing".
Now why should that be,
would you think?
It's simply because it is
now ten years since we actu-
ally experienced any global
warming per se, and there
are more and more indica-
tions that rather than contin-
uing to warm or even remain
constant, globally, the weath-
er is beginning to get colder
again.
Newspapers only print
information that is fed to
them (other than The Sun,
which tends to make it up as
it goes along) so when, on
May 21 last year, the Tele-
graph announced that the
Alpine winter sports industry
was in such serious decline
through lack of snow that its
demise was imminent, it was
only regurgitating a morsel
provided by the Armaggedon
Army.
Seven months later on
December 19, the same news-
paper reported that Alpine ski-
ing conditions were the best
"for a generation" and the
region ended up having the
best December ever recorded.
"Ah yes, but look at the
melting glaciers," they say,
wringing their hands like an
apologetic Uriah Heep. And
yes, they are still melting � but
they will stop.
If you heat a pan of lard
until half the fat is liquified, it
does not stop melting just
because you turn the gas off �
yet it has stopped getting
warmer. What we are witness-
ing is simply known as `catch-
up'.
Here we have experienced
the coldest start to a winter for
decades while, across the
pond, half the US and pretty
well all of Canada have been
under a blanket of snow for
weeks � the coldest conditions
in 40 years or more.
Our own Meteorological
Office, themselves guilty of
fuelling the global warming
fires with outrageous regular-
ity, confidently predicted as
recently as last September
that winter 2008/09 would be
"milder than average", which I
know will be a great source of
comfort to all of you who
thought the touring troupe of
castrati monkeys was indica-
tive of it being `a bit parky'
around here.
Incidentally, the Met Office
predicts that 2009 will be one
of the five warmest years on
record � so I would be hanging
on to that clout until about
August if I were you.
View from
the trough
with
AUSTEN DAVIES
`Have you noticed it? The words
`global warming' have gradually
given way to `climate change''
Hats off tae ye! The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project has shown
game and natural predators need not be mutually exclusive
Opinion
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