LAZ(er)Y WAY TO SHOOT MAGPIES

[mark foster]

great tip,
going to try that one out myself,

thanks

mark

[tufty]

Seems a bit strange to put bird feeders out,then get annoyed enough to shoot them when birds try to feed from them

[Raygun]

Seems a bit strange to put bird feeders out,then get annoyed enough to shoot them when birds try to feed from them

Also non-compliant with the General Licences.

ATB
Ray.

[hedgemumper]

Popcorn at the ready

[Tone]

Seems a bit strange to put bird feeders out,then get annoyed enough to shoot them when birds try to feed from them

Magpies are not birds as in the sense of a blackbird, thrush etc.

They are vermin, with no natural predator and are taking over our towns and cities, destroying the nests of our garden birds (which have enough trouble with cats etc), and the magpie population is ever expanding.

Forget waking up to the dawn chorus - its the dawn cackle these days

And the RSPB do nothing but sit back in a smug way, and go and visit some bird sanctuary hundreds of miles away rather than sorting out thier own back yard.

So well done Matou and good tip.

Rant over

[Raygun]

Magpies are not birds as in the sense of a blackbird, thrush etc.

They are vermin, with no natural predator and are taking over our towns and cities, destroying the nests of our garden birds (which have enough trouble with cats etc), and the magpie population is ever expanding.

Forget waking up to the dawn chorus - its the dawn cackle these days

And the RSPB do nothing but sit back in a smug way, and go and visit some bird sanctuary hundreds of miles away rather than sorting out thier own back yard.

So well done Matou and good tip.

Rant over

ALL birds are protected.

ATB
Ray.

[Matou]

ALL birds are protected.

ATB
Ray.

=================

I respect your view Ray, and did expect you to cite GLO6, as you have in previous articles debating the shooting of other species of bird in garden areas.

in response (and I am not offering this as defence) may I state that I have witnessed repeated attacks by maggies on the young of songbirds in my garden - predominantly blue tits, long tailed tits and one goldfinch (I have about 20 nesting boxes situated on my property), and in the past week I have had to put down three baby bunnies that have either been blinded or severely injure by packs of 2 to 4 magpies attacking them on the lawn.

The magpie is an opportunistic killer, IMHO, and I feel that my actions to reduce the numbers so as to protect the songbirds, especially, would stand as equally justified as the use of larsen traps to reduce corvid numbers on the two shooting estates bordering my village.

[tonyn]

Last year whilst working in a customers house , the lady of the house came in really upset(crying) She had been hanging out her washing and spotted a half dead woodpigeon chick in the garden with its eyes pecked out and compleatley bald on its head and bleeding.She asked if i could put it out of its misery, which i did. 30 minutes later her husband came home and she told him what had happened. He proceded to tell me how the last few days before he had been throwing stones/sticks ect at a group of magpies trying to raid the nest (which was in a tree in his garden)

Magpies imo are vermin to be classified in the same bracket as rats .
I wouldnt hesitate to shoot a few given a chance

[Raygun]

Doesn't matter what you think.

The law is quite specific, whether you agree with it or not.
All birds are protected but you may shoot some listed species PROVIDED you comply with the requirements of the General Licence that is applicable.

Having feeders means that you cannot comply with any of the Licences. You could say that you are enticing the Magpies in so you are responsible for the deaths of the songbirds.

Get rid of the feeders and you can shoot as many as you can and at the same time comply with the General Licences.

ATB
Ray.