Legal position on roosting rooks

[harpoonlouis]

I just want to check my understanding on the legal posiotion of dealing with rooks in a garden that is surrounded by agricultural land.

 

The house has been extensively worked on for the last 9 months and the builders have pretty well driven away rooks and crows from the adjacent farm and other roosting trees.

 

Now the work is finished and the owners have mnoved in and so have the rooks building 13 new nests in the trees about 20 feet from the house.

 

The neighbouring farmer shoots corvids on his side of the fence but the next nearest building has trees all around it's car park and doesn't roust the rooks at all.

 

My client wants to disrupt the rooks before they settle into these new nests and the knock down any branchers later in the year.

 

Back stops are a nightmare but not quite impossible.

 

We have knocked over a few on health grounds under the the General Licence and intend to put up a few day ropes to discourage them some more.

 

How far can we go legally?

 

Thanks

[Guest ChrisP]

You could try larsen trapping them. Directly under the rookery place the larsen trap out baited with eggs in a fake nest, sett it and hope you catch a call bird, then you will catch lots with the call bird. Or you could get the farmer to try decoying them on his land and shoot them as they come in.

Or even simpler shoot them and the nests yourself.

Edited March 28, 2012 by ChrisP

[guest1957]

Surely just shoot them and the nests under the terms of the GL?

[gamekeeper1960]

My client wants to disrupt the rooks before they settle into these new nests and the knock down any branchers later in the year.

 

 

We have knocked over a few on health grounds under the the General Licence and intend to put up a few day ropes to discourage them some more.

 

How far can we go legally?

 

Thanks

 

 

I know this might sound stupid but why do they want to get rid of them ??

 

Dave.

[harpoonlouis]

These guys have built a family house in a location right under the trees so the terraces are now covered in guano which the small children are getting covered in. She is concerned they might be exposing them to salmonella or worse. They want to discourage the birds from expanding the rookery into the nearest trees to the house. There are plenty of other suitable unoccupied trees in the location that aren't on their property so a bit of pressure on these guys should move them on.

 

There are a whole load of reasons why we don't want to be seen to just muller this population or be caught out on a technicality hence asking for comments on the legality of the situation not the tactics.

 

I have re-read the General Licence plenty of times, just want any input from anyone who does this kind of thing regularly.

 

Thanks

[al4x]

talk to the farmer next door about a ladder trap or resort to air guns. In a back garden the general license is fine legally but noise wise etc its far better to be subtle

[Quist]

Unlucky to slaughter rooks by their nests and not eat them.

"Curses like Rooks's fly home to roost in bosoms and bairns"

[harpoonlouis]

Quist...You wanna get out a bit more mate.