sharkhunter

Not too sure of your statement that all good firms have a waiting list. I do not have a waiting list anywhere near 1 year long, who wants to wait that long?? I have got recommendations from previous clients who will happily sing my/our praises, basically a good company, without a waiting list.And yes we do have the odd period where we do not have a continuous workload, but i do deserve a life as well. I work to live not live to work. No malice intended, Hugh.

Hi Suze, i have heard starlings mimic various things incl a telephone ring and even a crow call, perhaps you have a starling / avid football fan, Hugh.

Maybe a lapwing dressing down?? or a snipe with hair gel on!!! and it's too small for a curlew perhaps.will give it more thought, hugh.

Possibly a game bird, pheasant or partridge? Do they have corncrake in France??

Hi Steve, your last posting has left me a bit unsure of what you mean. Surely if the gable walls are 'set in stone' sized, then using a traditional pole roof as against a trussed roof would not gain more roof space. I would have thought that modern stress graded trusses have residuel strength built in during the design and that trad roofs, using bigger timbers would cut down internel size? Most often the pole roofs would have dormers fitted to give more apparent loft space and trussed roofs are for normal roofs, like bungalows or two storey with no conversions planned/allowed. Hugh.

Unfortunately i find financially it is easier to stop on a Thursday and fly home thurs night for the weekend and back on Mon night. This is a cost saver both in flight costs but more so in lost time at work. Ho Hum, guess i'll just have to grin and bear it, anyone fancy chartering a jet to take us all back to Scotland, might have to work a Thursday tho, Hugh.

Just to mention, has anyone else been adversely affected by Ryanair's decision to move flights from Bergerac to late in the evening? I find it now impossible to travel from Bergerac to my home in Scotland in one day. Previously, i had a few hours wait in Stanstead and caught the last flight to Prestwick, now i cant due to the late arrival from Bergerac.This is a major pain in the posterior, choices now are travelling to Limoges from Riberac, close on two hours and fly on then or wait in Stanstead overnight for first flight to Prestwick in the morning, and Ryanair's reply was............... nothing at all. Does this sc..w up anyone else's flights????? Hugh.

Oh go on Katie, do tell us what three things make you go all shivery, i am intrigued

Its been known for birds to be decapitated by the impact of a stooping peregrine, just think along the lines of whiplash, however in most of these cases the prey bird is usually collected up and taken back to feed either babies or enticing the female to copulate. As for the goshawk, a ferocious predator well capable of ripping the head off doves or partridge, but would most likely take in flight and fly on into the nearest cover, being large enough to do so with ease. The humble sparrowhawk, also known as the little assassin, has a better fingerprint for this type of kill, again capable of killing the above mentioned but would eat where it lands, though again mostly in cover. However, being an opportunist hunter and working bankings and hedgerows it's well capable of surprising the odd partridge, so may well be the 'culprit' here. Did you notice if there was any feathers around from impact or plucking? Hugh.

Hi, its been known to be a favourite snack for birds of prey, quite often hawks more than falcons will eat the head first, maybe this was a hawk kill and it was spooked away before it could devour it?? Also, when a fox kills it crushes the rib cage and as such there would be extensive damage to the body as well as the obvious saliva traces visible. Weasels and stoats are fascinating animals and are known to put their intended victims into a hypnotic trance like state and the victim is literally frozen to the spot, the kill is often preceded by the rabbit screaming in fear. Even if the rabbit manages to bolt it is known for the stoat to trail its victim to the bitter end and quite often ends up in  getting  the kill

This was something i was looking at, i intend to bring back from uk in excess of 5k and was horrified at the charges i will get either in UK or here in France and thought, wouldn't it be great to find someone who wanted UK sterling in exchange for Euro's, i was told this is illegal though, is it???? Hugh.

Hi, my knowledge of buzzards and birds of prey in general is slightly more than average due to my involvement with them over a few years when flying them at prey. I am fairly sure that all young are slightly bigger due to their longer feathers to compensate for lack of flying skills, this gives them an edge when tumbling hopelessly from the heavans when skill in the air has still to be mastered, hugh.

Fox do kill chicken in the UK and a lot of pheasant too, but as for lamb i think not. I have shot fox for many years, primarily on land that borders vast areas of forestry commission land as well as arable farm land.The overriding reason for farmers wanting fox shot are due to the amount of premature births of lambs caused by 'old charlie' running around with its cubs and causing distress to the sheep. This may or may not seem cruel but every lamb born is a farmers wage ( certainly his income) and as such is impelled to take action ( his wife makes him ) to protect his stock. Hugh.

Thank you all for your info. I will contact some friends in UK who breed to see if they can shed any light on subject, tho i think they have more info on importing to UK as exporting out!!!! still you never know. Grateful for anything else that you all may hear, will welcome e-mail or PM, hugh

If memory serves me well i think the french were very fortunate in the Stade de France last year winning in the final two minutes thanks largely to Scotland getting nervous and failing to clear their lines, this year Scotland held their nerve to record a fine victory. It makes you wonder how things may have panned out had Scotland not lost that opening match last year. And after the fine win on Sunday they may well fail miserably next weekend at Wales, that's rugby, Hughmandy

Hi, was wondering if anyone can shed some light on regs for keeping and flying hawks and/or falcons here in France. Back in the UK many years ago i kept and flew several species suitable for falconry and wish to pursue same again here, any help or advice would be great. Are there any displays that i could see and perhaps make an approach to the people who are involved, many thanks, Hugh.

[quote]Carp are of the goldfish family and get the same infections etc, it could be a lot of things killing them, but from what you describe it is more than likely the lack of oxygen in the stagnant water. ...[/quote] Hi thanks for your reply. I will pass on your thoughts to him. As to the feeding, yes he does feed them but since his summer visitors/ family have left i believe that he has stopped feeding, i will try to get a look at some of the corpses and check for growths etc. I do know that he has taken some water samples to take to a local lab in Riberac, perhaps Sogedo may do a test for him?? Will inform you/forum when he gets results if any, many thanks, hugh.

Hi, on behalf of a friend, he has informed me that all or most of his carp are dying in his moat. The moat is fed by a small spring that always runs and and drains off into the river/stream. He tells me that the moat seems to be stagnant due to lack of flow on the outlet but the spring still runs? He also mentioned that he has coypu living in the moat and has seen them on his lawn regularly, could these be the cause of his fish dying?? Could their tunneling be the cause of the water being diverted underground and not into the moat?? Do Coypu carry/have Weils disease and would they kill of fish. Any help would be appreciated, Hugh.

[quote]Did anyone see this today? Great picture? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4355628.stm Chris[/quote] Hi Chris, yes that is indeed a great picture, organised panic by the starlings trying to evade the marauding Peregrine that is attacking with confused determination, isn't nature a wonderful thing, a perfect balance achieved!! I have seen similar flights back in the UK when i flew a sparrowhawk at a flock of feeding starlings in a corn field. I guess you could liken it to flying with a force field in front of your hawk, as the spar drew nearer the Starlings seemed to lift in unison in front of her and land in similar form behind her, very sneaky however she soon got wise to that, say no more. Hugh.

[quote]It would be interesting to know whether this has been verified by the bird agencies that cover that region, all the information that I have states categorically that neither species takes live food, i...[/quote] Hi , i have a fairly good knowledge of birds of prey, in particular the ones used in falconry in UK being an ex Austringer/Falconer. I have never heard of a Vulture of any kind taking live prey, i may be wrong but i think their talons aren't suited to gripping particularly well, all their power is in their beaks for ripping carrion, also i think due to size if beak picking out ticks would be at best difficult unless they are rabbit sized. This posting is not meant to be anything other than well meant, i have previous experience of this forum and have been villified for previous postings and as such have been wary about posting again, in friendship, hugh.

Hi all, wondering if anyone can help me, had an above ground pool in for 10 weeks and water seemed ok from the off. Got a 4 in 1 tablet and used them at two every three days as recommended, however since week 1 i have poured in 5 lts of PH minus to bring down PH and 5 kg of PH minus too and that seemed to stabilise the pool for a few days. You can imagine my horror when we tested the pool two days ago to find both PH and CHL off the wall to the high side. Any help would be great or advice given would be much appreciated, in need, hugh.

Hi all,looking for info travelling from Bordeaux airport to Riberac by public transport, rail preferably? Have a niece travelling in September and have heard there is a rail link to Mussidan? can anyone confirm and if so how do you get from airport to train station. A friend advised that there is a rail link from airport direct to mussidan but have heard since that this is not so, so if anyone can help please give as much detail as possible or a site that gives info required, on forum or pm me, many thanks, hugh.

[quote]about hunters but there are many others forms of shooting . Indeed there are but none of them were connected with what I had to say about hunting. Do go back and read the thread in full. Mazan ,...[/quote] Quillan, thanks for the support and taking the time to respond. Mazan, as i said way back, all i wanted was info, not to be belittled by someone who has no previous knowledge of me. I bear no grudges, Au Revoir mon ami !!!!! :-)

[quote]What has this post now got to do with coping films or to that matter satellite tv,internet, telephone etc, please take your arguments back to sport (shooting again)[/quote] Did you read the top posting???? there are no rights to threads/postings or directions in which they go. If a posting deviates to another subject then surely this diversification only leads to enhancing the forum quality. It also becomes more informative on different subjects that are introduced as the discussion develops!!! Taking that into account, yes you are right. :-]

[quote]A brief couple of points here. Krill that statement was simply pulled out of the air and is no nowhere near the truth in my experience. Most tiny communes wouldn't even consider the head hunter as a...[/quote] Hear Hear. That was one of my earlier points, how anyone can cast aspersions on someone's character due mainly to a dislike of a sport.