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Why do we cull magpies?


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They are clever and ruthless predators with nothing to control them or above them in the food chain and with their being overfed and encouraged in back gardens, they need controlling.

 

And yes, I'd pick a song bird over a magpie any day.

 

They are top of my hit list but they are also the hardest to shoot.

 

Larsen traps work best because it plays to the birds instinct to attack, and for such an otherwise clever and cunning bird the red mist to attack another magpie on it's territory is very very strong and overwhelms it's other senses.

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Last year I had hardly any sparrows, dunnock, thrushes or anything else in the garden but I kept seeing a lot of Magpies, I built a larsen and caught

twenty odd, this spring I caught another nine, I haven`t seen one since, but there are at least three clutches of house sparrow coming to the bird table, along with Dunnock, great and blue tits, robins, starlings, blackbirds. all species with young. I feel right chuufed.

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I have quite a few magpies and other corvids around my home which Im unable to shoot due to location. So over the last few years Ive monitered the song bird population and it is thriving. I have many song birds nesting succesfully in my garden. I think a major problem is places suitable for nests. If you research various species and look at there nesting requirements you will reaslise the are few places they can nest. Some birds won't nest above 4 ft above ground and so its not trees they require. Some trees such as hazle dont provide much oportunity for nesting.

 

I know we all like to shoot but sometimes I feel people create an argument for shooting to justify the sport. There are times I,d love to shoot but know the prey is far from a pest in that environment, and may be helping the local ecosystem. eg There are few rabbits around me, and I leave them for the birds of prey who are doing great in the area. Although Id love top be shooting them, I know there is a very sparse number around here.

 

I your really concerned about song birds etc. plant a few buxxus and let it grow naturally. You will have lots of small birds nesting there. Ive got some plants here I'm happy to give to anyone who can collect them.

 

BTW I find I can't watch anything with Kate Humble in it, every word seems to annoy me :o :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I get a nervous twitch when I hear them.

It is a genetic desire to murder them I think.

 

they are bloody clever though. ones round here know exactly the range of my PCP and when it is loaded!

had to shoot one through a cat flap once as that was the only way I could get a shot without him seeing me!

 

keeps your stalking skills finely tuned!

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i hate to disagree as i have maggies in my garden and to be honest i dont feel the need to shoot them. we have a healthy songbird population and the magpies dont seem to have much effect. i think its just the naturaul balance of things and that we can't pick favourites when we are doing pest control, we cant pick one speices, say a blue ***, and protect its chicks and kill magpies just because blue tits are pretty an feel compelled to protect them. nature is cruel but the magpies have to feed there chicks too. i'm probably going to get loads of people screaming at there monitors for saying this but this is my opinion, and maybe in other areas magpies have such a high population that they do cause serious damage to songbirds.

 

Unfortunately there are more of them than would occur naturaly, we have upset the balance.

They are too numerous now as they have a large artificial food source to see them through the winter. I can quite easily see 50 a day in the slurry lagoon,silage clamps and around the cattle yards. They will survive quite happily on what they can find, but will always turn to their favourites when the spring comes. We have made them a pest by supplying a year round food source to ensure a low mortality rate.(add to this the endless supply of road kill) So we now have to mannage them to save the song birds.

 

 

They are clever and ruthless predators with nothing to control them or above them in the food chain and with their being overfed and encouraged in back gardens, they need controlling.

 

And yes, I'd pick a song bird over a magpie any day.

 

[/quote

 

+1 :good:

 

The number of song birds in my hedgerows is increased for every magpie that I kill.

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The comments on Springwatch that magpies are harmless is part of the much larger protectionist conspiracy.

 

Many years ago the protectionists unilaterally decided that the numbers of birds of prey needed to be raised knowing full well that this would lead to a decline in other bird species numbers.

 

They have conned the subscription paying public into believing that more raptors is somehow a good thing knowing that many of it`s subscribers are too feeble minded to realise that it is the raptors that they are paying to promote that are eating the other birds which in turn leads to the decline of songbirds,etc. upon which the protectionists base their emotional appeals for more money.

 

Protectionists know that if they repeat the mantra that magpies are harmless often enough huge swathes of the ignorant urban public will believe them and the magpies numbers will increase and the numbers of other species will decline and the protectionists will whinge and bleat that they need more of your money to protect our "endangered" bird life.

 

Cynically endangered by the actions of the protectionists solely to generate cash.

 

Hitlers propaganda ministry were rank amateurs when compared to some of our current protectionist bodies.

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I have just received a brochure from "Songbird Survival" who are funding the first ever experimental study to examine the impact of corvid removal on farmland songbird productivity.

 

They state "This program aims to deliver the first definitive evaluation of the impact of the growing numbers of corvids on the productivity of our songbird population".

 

They state corvid numbers have increased over the past 40 years by the following, Jackdaw + 114%, Magpie +94%, Crow +81%. Due mainly to the vast reduction in the numbers of farm workers and gamekeepers who traditionally managed their numbers.

 

It seems to me be a very worthwhile project which will prove once and for all that corvids need managing. The spin off from this research, as far as shooters are concerned, is that it will ensure that corvids remain on the general license thus providing us with a sporting quarry.

 

I would urge everyone to have a look at their website, www.songbird-survival.org.uk and make a donation to help fund this project.

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