Cormorants the FACT about their numbers

Well there you have it from a leaders point of view.
The illustrious RSPB lied about the figures on Nt. Radio.

Should we as anglers now be withdrawing any support we give to this lying body?

Some, I?ve no doubt will come on here and attempt to spin this as, ?well that?s what they are therefore, to protect the birds and you?d expect them to do this!?

But that does not detract from the fact they published figures into the public realm and then go on Nt. Radio and lie and attempt to deceive the listening public with figure they and their representative know to be untrue.

Therefore I believe as an angler I should no longer support them in anyway because of this!

What do you say?

I probably spend more time birdwatching at the moment than fishing, however, I withdrew my support from the RSPB because of the banning of lead shot and have no intention of re-joining.

I would be more a supporter of the RSPB if they were not composed predominantly of "twitchers."

Don't you know what a "twitcher" is?

It's a hunter in another guise.

I have had a number of dealings with the R.S.P.C.A. and I am not overly impressed with them.
Views I have heard from a profesional point of view are much the same.

You're talking out of your arse again Ron.

A twitcher is someone who deliberately goes to a specific place to see a specific bird.

They are very much a minority in birdwatching.

The majority of birdwatchers are just out for a walk with binoculars and enjoy whatever comes along.

I like bird watching when I'm out fishing and for a period of a few years paid a monthly fee to the RSPB towards some project or other that appealed to me. Then I read where they were taking over a fishery from anglers so they could erect bird watching platforms, and they also erected a large bird watching tower on a SSSI water where they wouldn't even allow anglers to build a boat mooring platform of a few planks (Phil and Ed know the water well as we were all members of the same syndicate).

That was when I withdrew my support from the RSPB and I've never regretted it.

Duplicity is a word that describes their attitude over recent years. They wish to protect a sea going bird that is now consuming inland fish and yet they themselves put a death warrant on the "Ruddy Duck" because they considered it a threat to indigenous species of water fowl! Does the cormorant not affect other inland birds that prey on fish? Why do the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds consider some birds worthy of only being killed off, surely they should, as they tell anglers to do, wait for the natural balance to work its way out, or is it that they dont beleive what they tell others? A case of "do as I say and not as I do". I cannot offer support to the RSPB, the RSPCA are a different kettle of fish (pardon the pun) whenever I have called them out, as I did recently, to a swan entangled in some idiots left line they have been efficent, helpful and friendly despite the fact that it was an angler that caused the problem.

" they themselves put a death warrant on the "Ruddy Duck" because they considered it a threat to indigenous species of water fowl"

You forgot an important fact from that comment Don. The bird they're trying to protect is the white duck -FROM SPAIN! Yet they want to kill the ruddy duck over here.

RSPCA - same tar, same brush as far as I'm concerned Don. But we're lucky down here in havign two excellent swan rescue centres close by.

Keith Arthur once said to me that he couldn't understand the mentality of someone who was prepare to shell out ?35 a year so that he could look into the sky and see exactly what everyone else could for nowt.

Old Chinese proverb when entering a low doorway.
Duck or Grouse.

I can understand why they were for getting rid of the ruddy duck but the way they have presented their case as regards cormorants demonstrates utter hypocrisy.

Their arguments are so full of holes with inaccurate statistics, pathetic suggestions as to how to deal with the problem other than by controlling numbers and the fact that faced with a problem with another species of bird they sanctioned a massive cull of birds.

Our spokesman should have shot them down in flames !