As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 8 February 2015

Cull wipes out Scotland’s ruddy duck population

by CLAIRE MCKIM

Published on the 08February 2015 

A DECADE-long cull has succeeded in wiping out Scotland’s entire population of ruddy ducks.

The birds, originally from north America, threatened the existence of European white-headed ducks in Spain where they regularly flew to from Scotland to interbreed.

An eradication programme, run by Scottish Natural Heritage with the conservation charity RSPB and carried out by trained marksmen, began ten years ago. Yesterday it was called off, with experts claiming there are just two male ruddy ducks and no female breeding birds left in the country.








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