Gauteng Smallholder December/ January 2018 | Page 7
Bullet
fragments
killing
Ground
Hornbills accumulate in the bird and it
eventually dies.
Horrible the things Man does
without thought of the
consequences.
Michael Doveton
Stellenbosch
S Rosy
Cheeked
Parakeets
ruin UK
vineyard
ir – Your piece on
vultures (November):
While I was at the
Mabula Game Lodge recently
I was shown their Ground
Hornbill Project. It's a huge
ugly bird, white wingtips and
red around the eyes and on
the throat. As critical to the
environment as the vulture.
The project is trying to
preserve the bird from
extinction.
It is dying from lead poison-
ing.
Apparently when an animal,
usually buck, is shot, the
bullet tends to shatter.
The hunter discards the
damaged flesh which is
devoured by the ground
hornbill. The lead fragments
Sir ~ Earlier in the year you
wrote about the alien Rosy
Cheeked parakeets g athering
in surprising numbers in areas
of Gauteng.
Well, spare a thought for the
chaps who run Forty Hall
Farm in Enfield, London's only
commercial vineyard since
medieval times.
Rosy Cheeked Parakeets have
severely dented the grape
harvest.
Recently, volunteers picking
chardonnay and pinot noir
varieties at the vineyard saw
60 parakeets fly away when
they sounded the bird scarer.
Apparently, there are esti-
mated to be up to 50 000
parakeets living in Britain,
mainly in London and north
Kent.
We enjoy the wide variety of
articles in your magazine –
keep it up!
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5
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MAILBAG
Fred (name supplied)
Nietgedacht
Facebook
posts are
enjoyed
S
ir ~ I really enjoy the
short pieces that you put
up so frequently on the
Gauteng Smallholder
Facebook page. They are
interesting and informative
and some of them are
hilarious!
It must take you some time to
do it, but I for one appreciate
it.
Margaret (name supplied)
Muldersdrift