Cormorant Cull

[castaway]

Driving home just a bit earlier and I hear on Radio4 that they have approved a cull on these birds

Hoo - bloody -ray I hope they start in Portchester. According to the statistics quoted these birds have increased 12 fold in recent years. Unsubstantiated reports from the owner of Fairweather are that most of them live within a 1/2 mile radius of his boat.

Suprisingly the cull is nothing to do with the mess on my covers and decks but all to do with the effect these predators are having on the fish stocks.

Maybe anglers are just practising there parlimentary lobbying technique, in advance of Tony trying to ban their sport?

Nick "Halberdier Fairweather"

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[graham]

Do the Cormorants actually land on boats in Porchester??

I have noticed a big increase in our area but only see them either fishing or on the shore on small headlands reed beds etc.

I guess if there are no safe areas ashore for them they will adapt and use whatever they can land on.

What is the purpose of the cull?Are they endangering fish stocks ,muscling in on other birds habitats or something similar?

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[wishbone]

Mmmm! cormorant stew with a fishy flavour looking forward to that, when will the birds be in Tesco's, make a change from pigeon pie!!!!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?

 

[castaway]

Yes their favourite spot is on the spreaders, however boom covers etc. will sufice. Other popular spots are the various bits of gear ( gantries solar panels etc ) on the top of channel markers.

I now have wires along the tops of my spreaders to discourge this behavour, and it appeared to work . Until 2 week back that is when 1 of the wires had broken. I plainly had hosted a major visitation and the boat was literaly covered the shit and goop ( goop comes from the front end I think and in highly adhesive) .

It took me a visit to the jetty and several hours with the hose to make an impression.

According to the MP who is heading this up there has been what I worked out to be approx a 12 fold increase in bird numbers, and yes there are very over engineered for taking small fish in calm waters.

All best Nick

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[ChrisE]

They are endangering freshwater fishstocks. Anglers have been lobbying on tihs for the past ten years that I am aware of. With no natural predators their number of have grown to the extent that they are removing fish stocks from lakes and rivers quickly. You could argue that they will evnetually eat themselves out of a habitat but by then there won't be too many fish left.

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[abraxus]

Perhaps the government could encourage the soon to be redundant fox hunters to chase cormorants intead of foxes. That way they could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Bill

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[graham]

Perhaps they(the cormorants not the MPs) could be encouraged to use the houses of parliament as a toilet I dont think the security measures will keep them out.

Black Rod could exchange his mace for a boomerang and bag a few during Prime Ministers questions.

The fox hunters would probably send out gamekeepers at 4 AM to clip the cormorants wings ,hardly fair on the dogs if their quarry can fly is it??

 

[LadyInBed]

I shall be applying for a licence first thing Monday.
They took out my VHF arial and wind vane, then they disgorge all over the deck!


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[phanakapan]

What you need is bears.

The common cormorant or Shag
Lays eggs inside a paper bag
The reason you will see no doubt
It is to keep the lightning out
But what these unobservant birds
Have never noticed is that herds
Of wandering bears may come with buns
And steal the bag to hold the crumbs

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[Piers]

Cormorant Recipes

Ideas?

Such as Cormorant flambé; Cormorant Wellington; Cormorant and chips....

<hr width=100% size=1>Piers du Pré
http://www.dupre.co.uk