Killer sheep eat Shetland chicks
Killer sheep eat Shetland chicks
REPORTS from the Shetlands that sheep have been seen eating live tern and skua chicks were this week backed by the British Trust of Ornithologys Dr Niall Burton, who revealed how he had witnessed sheep in County Durham with alarming carnivorous tendencies of their own.
Dr Burton said he was watching a brood of eight-week old red grouse chicks forage in heather and turf on Muggleswick Common, Weardale.
"As the grouse moved into the open on the short turf, one of three nearby sheep ran forward, picked up a chick and ate it whole.
"The alarmed female grouse quickly removed her remaining chicks into the heather, but the sheep was only prevented from taking a second by my intervention." *
Dr Burton said that the sheeps behaviour could be to alleviate a mineral deficiency in their diet.
"Over extensive, nutrient-poor moorland where there are high densities of sheep and ground-nesting birds, it could well happen regularly, without being noticed," he said.