LETTER: Release pheasants to attract predators

It doesn’t actually state where the letter writer lives.

As a recent retiree I now find time to spend in and around the North Derbyshire ‘Moss Valley’.
I am out both early morning and late into the evening.

The buzzards that the letter refers to may be the birds that are resident and have been for some time in and around this beautiful valley. There are at least six, maybe eight individual birds. To my knowledge there has been, this year, two successful nestings.

Their constant ‘mewing’ is there for all to hear.

Further too this, I have seen sparrow hawks and tawny owls. There are also kestrels and one morning I was fortunate to see a barn owl working his way over a piece of ground, although I have not seen this for some time now.

It may be that the letter writer lives in an area which is devoid of carrion that buzzards are reputedly feeding on.

The Moss Valley is and has been for years an area which is rich in wildlife. Should the writer wish to see buzzards perhaps they should release pheasant and partridge as some people do. I can assure them in no time at all they would see all the predators they want.

Michael Barrett-Nicholson

By email