I suppose it depends if the virus has died out or maybe some are immune.
Just had a message from a mate of mine. He was watching the Owl late this afternoon and it swooped down and took a rabbit. Lifted it from the hillside with one foot and just carried on flying as though there was no additional load!
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Heard a story today from an old mate who I hadn’t seen in 10 years when I met him at the Owl site.
When the Snowy Owls were breeding, the RSPB set up permanent camp here (said mate was part of this team) to monitor and protect them. Dogs were strictly not allowed on the land unless they were on a leash, however one particularly obnoxious woman refused to put her West Highland Terrier on a leash and marched off towards the general area where they nested.
The dog ran off ahead, at which point the large female Snowy came rocketing across the hillside and promptly killed the dog stone dead. It picked the dog up and took it some way from the nest where she and the male tore it to pieces and took the bounty to the nest to feed their young.
Rules are there for many reasons.
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What an amazing thing to get to see one in the wild let alone on home soil 
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We used to have many rabbits on the caravan site in the Lake District. Following the massive rain that hit us about 3 years ago (the one that wiped bridges out) they all disappeared. at first we thought they had drowned in their burrows but then the suggestion of a new virus was muted (is that the word?)
This year I have seen 3 more appear round the van.
Oh, and red squirrels are doing well.
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It’s definitely a virus up here. The optimistic side of me is hoping it’s past its peak.
I’m ambivalent about rabbits and have no problem with locals shooting them for food, but I don’t want to see them wiped out completely.
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Mooted. 
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mooted
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Exactly. I cannot be assed eating them due to the amount of tiny bones. I would hate it if they were cut down too much.
FFS, where’s the “not worthy” emo’kin’ting.
A few more terriers and it might be ready to feast on the crabbit auld bisom. Hopefully.
Erm, I was first, les miserable is a mere coat-tail hanger. 
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We have a bloke at work who uses the word mute or muted when he means moot or mooted all the fucking time.
I asked him why he did that as he wasn’t a swan.
He gave me a very odd look, I don’t think he understood what I was on about at any level.
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Yeh, knew I pinched it from somewhere. 
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Just been watching a buzzard getting dive bombed multiple times by what I think was a lapwing. The buzzard was maybe 3 times the size of the other bird, but was just getting battered. You’d have thought it would just kill the smaller bird, but it was just trying to get away from it.
Buzzards are not very agile flyers and they don’t usually try to take birds ‘on the wing’. It’s quite common for smaller birds to mob raptors.
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I’ve seen groups of crows etc mob them as a team, but not just a single bird drive one off so comprehensively. It was fascinating to watch. I wish I’d had Ellie’s DSLR with the big zoom on it.
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I’ve seen a buzzard getting mobbed by about 20 parakeets.
That must be pretty humiliating if you’re a buzzard.
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That buzzard should’ve checked with wiki-how. 
https://www.wikihow.com/Teach-Your-Parakeet-to-Love-You
A good news story, for a change
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