Telford News

Pet owners in Telford warned to be on alert

Pet owners in Telford warned to be on alert

A Telford resident had the shock of his life when a bird of prey swooped down into his garden where Abby, the four month old kitten was playing.

David Hurdley from Wellington spotted the bird this afternoon when his family were enjoying the sunshine.

"People need to be made aware of the dangers to small cats & kittens"

Red Kites, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks have all been spotted this year over the skies of Telford.

Can anyone identify the bird in David's photo?


49 thoughts on “Pet owners in Telford warned to be on alert

  • Looking through my kitchen window about two weeks ago there was a sparrowhawk devouring a pidgeon on the footpath and it didn’t move until there was only feathers left that’s the second one I’ve seen ,that was when we had a bad winter a few years ago that time it was eating a wagtail .I did take a photo but it wasn’t very clear and that was on Westbourne.

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  • It’s very unusual for a bird of prey to take an animal from a garden more scaremongering. Birds of prey don’t like populated areas.

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    • It swooped down, but I assume didn’t actually attack the kitten otherwise you would have said. It would be unusual for it to have attacked such a large kitten, please don’t scaremonger. Birds of prey have enough people persecuting them already without encouraging Telford residents to dislike them!

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  • Definitely a Buzzard. We had a Sparrow Hawk snatch a female blackbird out of our garden a few days ago

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  • Its a semi rural area in some parts..its unavoidable and hardly preventable…we get weasels, pheasants, foxes etc..this bird nearly broke our kitchen window catching a dove..we live near bowring Park

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  • Amazingly the dove survived as the bigger bird was scared off…you can see its feet underneath

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  • Kites DON’T kill live prey they only eat carrion, that’s a buzzard, very unlikely it would take a kitten! No kitten or puppy should be in the garden under 5 or 6 months

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    • Don’t be ridiculous – a buzzard isn’t going to attack a child !

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    • Victoria Plum

      Absolutely agree with every word. The problem is that a lot of people will read the article and take it on board, without doing any research. This kind of article is exactly what can cause unwarranted panic and hatred of raptors. I hope people use common sense and realise that the article is pure scaremongering. Buzzards are great for the environment and clean up carrion. That’s why it’s not often we see dead birds and small mammals, of which there are hundreds each day, lying around.

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  • We live near The Wrekin so see lots of birds of prey. Sadly they have been known to take the newborn lambs, and caught one taking our hen. Have seen many near Wellington

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    • Not buzzards,hooded cross will attack new born lambs,buzzards eat carrion.. Pleasant leave poisoned carcasses out to kill.them, that’s mean up after us, roadkill etc.

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  • Sparrow hawks and buzzards are always in suttonhill area, see them all the time, sparrow hawks used to come into my garden most days when I had my aviary used to try and grab my birds through the netting.

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  • Always remember when Lulu was a puppy and playing in the garden seeing a huge buzzard circling over , getting lower and lower ready to swoop – I just picked her up and took her inside.

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  • Just re read the article, so the bird didn’t actually do anything?

    It just swooped into someone’s garden, probably saw the cat and got spooked and flew away. Yet the buzzard is the bad guy?

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  • What a stupid article. Just trying to scare people over nothing and give wildlife a bad name.

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  • Buzzards will take live prey but very unlikely a kitten and especially unlikely in an enclosed garden. Assuming it did….perhaps that’s the risk you take. After all people let their cats out to kill poor innocent birds everyday and thats just to satisfy it’s instinct. At least the bird of prey would be killing for food. This is very much a non story

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  • I had a fancy pigeon that kept coming into my garden causing a lot of damage. I was not sorry when a sparrowhawk took it out. Wish it would come back for the wild ones.

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    • Damage It’s a pigeon not a terrorist .

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  • Is this a serious post?

    Let’s get some facts out there.

    Buzzards and Red Kites in the main take carrion, as about 80% of their diet. A kitten wouldn’t even register with them as food.

    A sparrowhawk rarely takes ground game, probably less than 10% of their diet is ground game.

    Of this post leads to the sudden increase in injured or killed raptors in the Telford area, then you are wholly complicit.

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  • 3 red kites were shot last week just over the border near newtown Powys Red kites, dont eat kittens, puppys, dogs, lambs, babies or teenagers, but stories like this make birds of pray as man/pet eating monsters, what along with the likes of the daily mail running stories about foxes in london, burgling house to to babies, thats how low it stooped.

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