Love thine enemy

Control does not mean total eradication of a predator species — but a “crop” taken at the right time can help other fauna to thrive too

There is a long, straight front drive on to my shoot, with well-kept hedges on both sides. Halfway along, a strip of scrubby woodland branches away to the south, with a track on either side. I was parked in the gap, surveying the fields for roe, when a movement in the drive caught my eye. It was a musket sparrowhawk powering towards me about a foot off the ground. Realising that I was there, at the last minute, it flipped up over the car and as I looked in the mirror, I saw it drop back down and bank hard right to continue its regular attack run down the side of the bushes.

Every time I see a sparrowhawk in the partridge ground I curse, though a musket is no great threat — he specialises in much smaller quarry. It is his much larger wife that includes partridges on the menu, and I have no doubt that I lose several pairs each spring. I have seen a sparrowhawk take a bird out of an autumn covey, but it is the period from January to March when greys are most vulnerable. Living in pairs means they have many fewer eyes to spot for danger and the need to work hard for food means they are preoccupied too.

All-out war

Many people find it hard to understand that I have a high regard for the predators that I do battle with. From March to June it is all-out war on crows and magpies. My aim is to have no established pairs throughout this period and to mop up any interlopers as soon as possible after they arrive. This does not mean that I hate these birds; far from it. Magpies and crows are very clever and I admire their enterprise in making a living in all sorts of different circumstances — they are superbly adaptable.

The same goes for my other arch enemy, the fox. If I want my wild nesting pheasants and partridges to do well, I must control foxes, and

34 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE every opportunity to nail one during late winter and spring has to be taken. But here again, I am still very happy to watch and admire a fox going about its business. Watching one spring up and pounce on a vole through several inches of snow is very special; something for the memory bank that lasts a lifetime.

DR MIKE SWAN IS HEAD OF EDUCATION AND THE SOUTHERN REGIONAL ADVISER FOR THE GAME & WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONTRUST A young male sparrowhawkwill not take a partridge but the larger adultfemale will