Taffyshooter

Tis annoying allright - I have mine on the sheltered roof of some outhouses after experiencing similiar problems a few years back. Its hard to know if the people who interfere with the likes of Larsen Traps are eitheir ignorant of the law or simply engaging in mindless vandelism

Multiple kills at a time and chewed heads suggest a mammalian predator - a large feral Tom Cat or fox(suprsingly good climbers in many cases, they easily get around urban gardens with walls!!) would be my guess, both are well able to get into a pen from the top in my experience if things arent water tight in terms of access, height etc.. A feral polecat/ferret might be another possiblity.

At this time of year eggs are a big attraction for crows - rabbit guts are always a winner. Some lads swear by roadkill if your not too fussy about getting some;)

Thats for sure - especcially if accomodation etc. is taken out of your package. Alot of the "accomodation" offered makes the cheapest student squats look like the Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons:(. Whoever is making money from this businsess, it certainly isn't the people who put in the hard hours!!:(

Nice work - traps are the business if you want to hit corvid populations hard, cheaper and less time consuming then shooting the wary ******* too I find

Recently nailed a "problem" fox myself - all thanx to my new caller that mimics fox breeding calls. Very usefull at this time of year

A few lads I know were telling me about the shortage of certain duck and woodcock in traditional areas this year - I think the obvious explanation is all the mild weather in Europe has meant that birds simply aren't moving West to the BI in the usual numbers. My brother was on a business trip to Eastern Europe a few weeks back and couldn't get over how mild it was compared to previous years. I think some cold weather has just arrived their now so hopefully it might push more birds our way before the season ends!!

Anyone use Michegan Blue crosses?? - Heard good thing bout these in terms of hardiness and getting up for the guns!!

I had a block of Larch forestry on my permission that was cleared a few years ago and was then allowed to naturally regenerate with native shrubs/trees. I have to say it has proved an outstanding success in terms of providing cover for increased pheasant brood survival and I've also seen an increase in woodcock using it in winter which is rather pleassing to say the least:)

Well Kestrels are in decline which is a shame given the amount of rodents they consume - I know the cereal farmers next to the permission I use are fond of seeing them about. TBH my experience is that raptors do alot more good then harm by thinning out the likes of magpies, grey squirrles etc. Some such as Red Kites are simply scavangers that rarely catch any live prey. As for pheasants poults - I've been releasing them for years while at the same time seen buzzard numbers shoot up here in South Wales. Can't say I've noticed any major change in poult survival. Buzzards round here seem to prefer the likes of rabbits and rats going on the remains I've found under their plucking posts. Only trouble I ever had was from a rogue female sparrow hawk who took a few small poults on me one year. She then got caught in a ladder trap I had for crows - after I let her go I didn't see her again as I think the experience put the wind up here!!