Thanks Geoff for the good post.

.....in other words it is fine in the legal sense to kill them at any time in any place, on the basis that they would be damaging crops or nests at some point in their lives........

So you CAN shoot woodpigeon for the pot.

It would appear then that when questioned by a person of authority you answer ' I did this for the pot' = court appearance. 'I did this for the protection of crops' = no case to answer.

Sometimes we don't always say the right things at the right time and end up in the proverbial when no malice was intended.