Predators

Thoughts flippant and serious:

My early thoughts on predators were about needing more Peregrine Falcons to stop the Wood Pigeons from scoffing all the bilberries. I next wondered if an introduction of Lynx would help to move a larger deer population around. A really good addition to this area would be a pack of Wolves to reduce the damage done by sheep. Lambs killed this way or by a Golden Eagle passing through might have a better end than the prolonged and terrifying journey to the abattoir.

Wolves would also  be a helpful in controlling Wild Boar should the feral pigs eventually move up here from the Forest of Dean. That of course would be a much better solution to the spread of bracken on the moors. Boar and Deer are much more likely to move into large bracken beds and stir up the ground there. And Wolves and Lynx would move them around. The makings of a proper ecosystem?

But how do you deal with the surplus population of managers? This could be where Bears might find a role. Though to be sure of doing a valuable job they would need to be directed to the HQ at Stafford Road. They might starve looking for them here. Unless they waited in the rhodendron for one of the staff to arrive at the car park. They would need to be quick to jump out before SWT dived back into the car after stapling up another A4 sheet. Now this is beginning to really interest me.

A really serious and stimulating article on predators can be found here:

http://www.self-willed-land.org.uk/articles/predator_removal.htm