License to shoot cormorants

[rayhallam]

hi, has anyone ever applied for a licence to shoot cormorants,  if so how long did it take and any pproblems

[Scully]

We once asked some EA staff who were working on a mates farm, this very question. They told us to ‘just shoot them’ ! We didn’t. 

[London Best]

Was once involved with an estate where a mile and a half bordered a large river and the fishing was let to a very large angling club. Anglers complained lots about cormorants and a licence was duly applied for. I can’t remember how long the licence took to come through, bit it was not quick. 
When it did arrive we had been given a licence to shoot TWO. 
That’s right, licence to shoot two cormorants. 
Unfortunately, they kept on falling in the river, so we could only count what we picked. I don’t think we ever did shoot our quota.

[marsh man]

17 hours ago, London Best said:

Was once involved with an estate where a mile and a half bordered a large river and the fishing was let to a very large angling club. Anglers complained lots about cormorants and a licence was duly applied for. I can’t remember how long the licence took to come through, bit it was not quick. 
When it did arrive we had been given a licence to shoot TWO. 
That’s right, licence to shoot two cormorants. 
Unfortunately, they kept on falling in the river, so we could only count what we picked. I don’t think we ever did shoot our quota.

We were the same , although we must have had twice as many Cormorants than you because after a time the estate were allowed to shoot Four , before they filled the outside woods up with log cabins we used to have morning duck flights down on the lake, when the first shots were fired the sky was full of the hungry fish eating birds , the roosting trees look like they had been given a coat of white paint as there must have been 100s of them , nowhere near as many now feed on the lake but there is still a lot come back last thing in the afternoons after spending the day in the North sea , while they are not feeding on the lake then we can tolerate them roosting in the trees , but every so often some of the numbers seem to drop off . I wonder if is bird flu or lead poisoning .