Bloody people!!!

I was asked the other day how often I go birding.  I replied that it might be a better question to ask when I am not birding.  Yes, I do go out for the day with the intention of birding but every time I go out I'm on the look out for birds.  The Urban Birder David Lindo says, "Look up," and I do, and I've seen loads more birds over Dorktown.    

Seeing it's Sunday I have to make do with the Sunday Express today and not the Dorktown News.  I starting having the Express delivered because Stuart Winter has a birding column in it, called Birdman - which is fair enough.  In yesterday's post my copy of Bird Watching magazine arrived and I lay in bed last night reading it.  Winter has also picked up on one the stories in there and wrote about it for today's Birdman tale.  The story is about a number of raptors that have been rescued by the RSPCA.  The birds of prey were found ill or injured but can never be released into the wild because they were raised a pets.  They are now recovering somewhere near Nantwich.  But what on earth of people things about when they decided to have a barn owl as a pet? 

These birds take a lot of looking after, they are not budgies or canaries where you can stick in a pot of seed, water and some millet and clean them out every so often.  They eat raw red meat, not seed; they need to be flown out in the open so they can be exercised; they need to be worked to keep their instincts sharp.  I have a feeling that a lot of these birds are bought under pester-power form kids who have seen the Harry Potter films.  What should have happened is more discipline being used and a very firm "NO!" being given. 

There is apparently a growing internet industry in selling birds, with raptors being most popular.  RSPCA is wanting action to stop ISP from carrying such services.  No one has managed to stop the trade in kiddie porn yet so how do the RSPCA hope to get things done about selling birds of prey?  Not much hope there I think.  No, parents have to grow a  pair of balls and say "No, you can't have one," one the kids start pestering.  They normally do it with dogs, so why not with birds?