By WMNKRossiter | Posted:
May 23, 2016
By Keith Rossiter
Farmers should be allowed to
leave animal carcasses out in the fields to ensure that a rare vulture spotted
in the Westcountry does not starve to death, a conservationist says.
As reported in the WMN last week,
a lammergeier was
filmed over the Severn eastuary near Bristol, and later spotted near the
Venford reservoir on Dartmoor in Devon.
There were numerous reports of
sightings over Dartmoor today.
"This is an amazing thing to
have happened," conservationist Derek
Gow said.
Watch the vulture in flight
"There are very few records
of vultures coming to Britain in the past."
He said lammergeiers were found
in mountainous regions such as the Pyrenees and the Alps.
In Spain, farmers have a
dispensation to dispose of animal carcasses in an area frequented by
lammergeiers.
"Britain is too
sterile," Mr Gow said. "Farmers aren't allowed to leave dead
livestock out in the fields.
"Birds like vultures and red
kites are really going to struggle for food here.
"In this landscape you will
find the occasional dead sheep, but you are just not going to find the numbers
needed.
"Leaving carcasses out isn't
something that can't be done under EU law.
"Defra needs to make it
possible for farmers."
Mr Gow said that although the
lammergeier could have escaped from a collection somewhere in Britain, it was
more likely to be a juvenile from a wild population in the Alps or Pyrenees
which was looking for new territory.
No comments:
Post a Comment