pheasant numbers down

[Qbgrey 4,088]

Our shoot,and a few around us have not shot very well this season,birds not about like normal.i reckon this rabbit disease rhd,has killed most of the rabbits off which would normally be thier main grub,so the fox has turned on the birds.,more buzzards than ever? Any one got any findings.?

[C.green 3,229]

I dont reckon foxes catch as many rabbits as what some people think,

[Qbgrey 4,088]

I agree,but if the mixy ones are not about then would they turn on ??

[The one 8,467]

Berrys and worms so Chris packaham says 

[fireman 10,869]

Buzzards,,,,,,had one nearly come through a landy windscreen when it was chasing a partridge,watched one drop onto a hen pheasant sat on 17 eggs and it smashed every egg under her as it hit her. We've had both partridges and pheasants to scared to leave cover and when they did they scarpered back every time a bird flew over head of them,the leveretts are suffering to and packham is a dickhead....

[neil cooney 10,416]

The buzzard without a doubt is doing more harm than good. But a lot of our pheasants disappeared this year after we let them into fields of cabbages and sprouts so they had cover to hide from the buzzards. Foxes were not an issue nor where the buzzards. But one morning when there was a hard frost I was talking to the farmer. He was spraying the crops with slug pellets. I asked was there a need as the frost would keep the slugs back. He said he regularly put out the pellets as you can never be too careful.

The water in the wheel ruts were full of pellets and the neighbouring fields had pellets 5 yards into them. A friend was going to shoot them the following day and I told him not to because if his dog took a drink the water was toxic.

Talking to other gun club men (Carlow and County Dublin) they told me they reckoned that slug pellets done away with some of their birds in the past. Makes you wonder what they do to the song birds.

Any of you lads suffering from pheasants going missing got much vegetable farmers on your shoots ?