Osprey chick snatched by buzzard raises one-eyed questions

One-eyed view on buzzards and a coiincidence
July 2012. This remarkable video clip was filmed on a nest cam in Scotland. The clip shows an osprey leving her nest moments before a buzzard swoops down and carries off one of the chicks. This provoked some very strange reactions from certain sections of Scottish society, howling about the danger of buzzards to rare spoecies.

THE STORY HAS SOME INTERESTING ASPECTS THOUGH:

The film was taken at Lochter, a custom made fishing and outdoor pursuits centre run by Euan Webster. Mr Webster is "a former chairman of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust's Grampian regional group". Various groups have ben howling about the need to control buzzards for persecuting ospreys, and, according to a statement made via Scottish Land and Estates, Mr Webster states He said: "This was a shocking act and clearly demonstrates why something needs to be done to control buzzards. It cannot be right that the buzzard remains protected yet they swarm over the countryside in large numbers eating prey - including iconic and beautiful birds such as Ospreys - at will."

Scottish Land and Estates statment also states "As Buzzard numbers have grown, clearly there is a need for increasing amounts of prey for them to eat. Whilst smaller populations of Buzzards may at one time have been able to survive mostly on carrion, rabbits and small game, this is now clearly not the case with growing numbers of reports of Buzzards preying on other wildlife such as red squirrels and other wild birds, some of them being rare species of conservation concern such as Osprey."

This ignores some facts; Ospreys have coexisted very happily with buzzards for centuries, until human intervention removed them from the scene in the UK. Buzzard numbers too are now reaching healthy, and probably natural, levels since their persecution was stopped (or slowed at any rate) and various chemicals have been removed from the countryside.

Do buzzards kill other birds for fun? Now that would be shocking behaviour
What was so shocking about a raptor catching and eating something? One would have thought that someone in Mr Webster's position would have known that this happens occasionally. What would have been shocking would be if the buzzard had killed another bird just for the fun of it - Or even charged another buzzard for the right to do that on his patch.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/osprey-buzzard.html#cr