I was walking home from a Stag do last Saturday (14/05) up Pomona Street, off Ecco Road at around 7:30pm. I had just passed the Norwich Union building and was just before the Junior and Infant School when I saw 2 dead Magpies laid out in the middle of the street, below some trees.

One Magpie and I would have thought "road kill" but there were 2 and something just didn't seem right (even thought I was drunk). Just then, a couple more Magpies landed in the tree above (I could make out a couple of nests). I heard the sound of an airgun/pistol being fired and a Magpie landed next to the others, except this one was not quite dead.

I found this terribly distressing and disgusting. Magpies may be considered as pests/vermin, but not being outright killed in this manner is wrong. Having done a little research this week I have found that it is illegal.

Not to mention that some chicks in one of the above nests more than likely had a long lingering death from starvation or the cold, there is some low-life taking shots at birds from a window that is immediately opposite the above school.

If I had any kids and I wouldn't like them to be greeted by that as they made their way there. There is nothing stopping this sicco taking the day of work/uni and having a shot miss and hit one of the upper windows or even worse, hitting a kid.

I have since walked this way again and found no other evidence of this going on. It also looks like someone picked up the 3 dead ones and got rid of them.

I did hang around for around 15 mins that Saturday night to see if I could pinpoint the window but to no avail. My girlfriend says she is glad I didn't find the culprits.

I wish I had gone to the Police that night. I hope to catch them doing it again so this time I will. People like this have got a slate loose.


I wondered what peoples thoughts were to this or anything similar

Oohhhh people can be so horrid. Could you report this the RSPCA ( are they the right people to contact? )

I know magpies are naughty birds and I think they are currently being nasty with other birds little babies (well they are near us at the moment) but don't think killing them like that is at all appropiate

I'm not sure if there's anything you can do. Someone shot my cat with an airgun a couple of years ago and it's just too hard to find the culprit unless they're caught in the act.

As a geordie this hits me particularly hard...

It's really strange you should mention this, my cat died the Saturday before that, the 7th. We thought that he had been shot by an air pistol too as he didn't seem to have been run over and there was a lot of blood but no visible injuries. We live in Lower Walkley.

I've been keeping my eye out on the forum for anything similar since. Makes me wonder if it was the same person. We were really upset because he was only just over a year old.

We reported it to the RSPCA and they said they would send an inspector round to get him for a post-mortem but they never turned up and didn't even ring to say they weren't coming.

What kind of sick B****** would want to do something like that to an animal?

I'm leaning towards to Police might actually be interested in this as it was happening opposite a school.

I can understand it being hard to catch them, it just gets me soooo mad

It's so cruel.

You can try and contact the RSPB but if it's illegal then phone the police anyway, I doubt they will as it's 'only birds' and not real crimes but they could keep checking the area.

I think it's only legal to even use an air rifle if you are going to do shooting practice on your own property any shots that land further than your property are illegal, therefore if they can find that this psycho has one, it's a start.

It is also very worrying that it's opposite the school, like you said what if it was to go in the window of the school/hit a kid.

SallyLaLaLa, I'm so sorry to hear of your cat's death, people are so cruel. I can't imagine killing any animal - I'd be devastated if I did by mistake.
I hope they catch the little sod soon. It's probably a young person (sorry but it's true - I'm only 17 but I still blame the youth of the today) who thinks they're flash with their new air rifle and wants to have some fun.

Because air rifles don't have bullets only pellets, they think they're not a harmful weapon. They are.

Oh and Sally, you should ring the RSPCA to complain! It's distressing enough having your animal killed in some way but then to have to think someone's coming to do a post mortem, and then they're not makes it so much worse I can imagine.

I would have thought RSPB might be more interested that the RSPCA (what with magpies being birds)

But, there can only be so many windows that have a clear shot at the tree with the magpies in it - go to the coppers and say someone was taking pot shots as you, and were obviously killing birds before that - they might take more interest if a human is involved.

Originally posted by samc
Oohhhh people can be so horrid. Could you report this the RSPCA ( are they the right people to contact? )

I know magpies are naughty birds and I think they are currently being nasty with other birds little babies (well they are near us at the moment) but don't think killing them like that is at all appropiate once had a pet maggie called pecky,he was shot,i know who did it,reported him to police and rspca,both said there was nothing they could do as it was not on the protected bird list

whent back to the police and asked them about discharging an air weapon in a public place, never thought of that was the reply,they went and gave the kid a caution,didnt even confiscate his gun

Originally posted by SallyLaLaLa
It's really strange you should mention this, my cat died the Saturday before that, the 7th. We thought that he had been shot by an air pistol too as he didn't seem to have been run over and there was a lot of blood but no visible injuries. We live in Lower Walkley.

I've been keeping my eye out on the forum for anything similar since. Makes me wonder if it was the same person. We were really upset because he was only just over a year old.

We reported it to the RSPCA and they said they would send an inspector round to get him for a post-mortem but they never turned up and didn't even ring to say they weren't coming.

What kind of sick B****** would want to do something like that to an animal?

My sister lives in Handsworth and has 2 cats. One came home last week with a huge hole in his leg, the vet said he had either been shot or bit by a dog. He is ok, but then the other day, the other cat came home with exactly the same injury, in the same place.

The vet now says they have both been shot (pellet was found in her leg).

I know some people hate cats but that is no excuse to injure an animal in this way (or any way). My sister is now extremely upset and may have to find a new home for the cats as she obviously can't keep letting them out if they're getting shot all the time!

B***tards!

:rant:

Between Ecclesfield and the Shiregreen there is a large area of land called "The Brook" someone has been shooting squirrels down there :( i take my digital camera down with me when i take my two dogs for a walk just incase i see anyone with a gun.

I am not sure but I think the law states that airguns cannot be discharged within 15 metres of a public highway and no projectiles can travel outside the boundaries of the land your shooting on. Modern day air rifles are extremely powerful compared to the old ones, some of the new precharged models are capable of producing over 100 ft lbs of muzzle energy (legal limit for rifles is 12 ft lbs) taking them into .22 rimfire territory. I have seen young kids with rifles that are so powerful they would easily kill you at 200 yards, frightening when you consider the shoot em up mentality of the individuals who owned them.
After being a centrefire pistol and rifle shooter and a shotgun and airgun owner, my views on airguns have changed. They should be outlawed along with BB guns, replicas and hunting knives.
I once saw a shootout at shops on Papermill road in shiregreen, if it wasnt so dangerous it would have been comical. There was 7 or 8 kids armed with full size gas powered BB guns having a full blown shootout for about 5 minutes, all the time people were walking in and out of the shops, it was a miracle nobody was hit.
You only have to look in recent news to see that people are being killed by these airguns.
You should report these idiots before someone gets hurt, or worse.

My MIL's cat was shot, we think it happened down in the 'the brook' but we don't know.

Husband and I was shot at by a passing car, whilst walking the dogs one night (on a main road), I think they were aiming at our dogs. We reported it, but it just ended up being paperwork. But I was told that if they stopped a car of similar description, they would search it and they could be done for having a pellet gun in a public area.

I would report it, if nothing else it at least it puts it on the crime stats.

Originally posted by Jon
Between Ecclesfield and the Shiregreen there is a large area of land called "The Brook" someone has been shooting squirrels down there :( i take my digital camera down with me when i take my two dogs for a walk just incase i see anyone with a gun.

You're allowed to shoot squirrels if you have the land owners permission. Its quite a popular sport squirrel hunting apparently.
Mod: Link removed

Originally posted by Jon
Between Ecclesfield and the Shiregreen there is a large area of land called "The Brook" someone has been shooting squirrels down there :( i take my digital camera down with me when i take my two dogs for a walk just incase i see anyone with a gun.

now Floydd77 has aired the news it's legal to shoot wildlife, and posted pictures of guns I've visions of more and more yobs acquiring these, something else for the morons to do,

:suspect: watch your back squirrelz(from Sheff Forum) i believe you can be shot.

Hey, dont shoot the messenger!

(Do you see what I did there?)

Also, the laws governing air rifles etc are pretty strict, so if yobs do start using them there will be a lot more yobs going to jail. They dont get locked up for hanging about being a general nuicance at the moment, but sure would for brandishing an air rifle in public.

Woman admits animal cruelty charges :rant: why do people do this to animals :mad: :sad: animal cruelty charges (http://www.ntlworld.com/partners/itn/britain/story1832316.php)

Really , honestly , posters , are you surprised at [ young ?] people killing magpies with air rifles ?
If they're any age up to 25 years , they'll have been watching endless t.v. programmes , videos ......etc..... where killing people or animals with a gun is quite funny , or at least , "clean".
They have the money to buy the air pistols or air rifles , the penalties on the off-chance they are caught , are laughable and their parents [even if both of them are present ] can only advise them not to be too naughty.
What's to stop them shooting the odd magpie , cat , dog or Senior Citizen ? Time to get the Counsellors to clamp down with a week's holiday in N.Wales , I guess.

Bit of a generalisation there. I think you'd find 99.9% of people under 25 think this is wrong.

Originally posted by Fareast
the penalties on the off-chance they are caught , are laughable

No they're not - air rifles are classed as fire arms, and are treated as such by the law. If youre caught 'fannying about' with an air rifle, youll be very lucky to be let off with a caution.

Teacher in the news recently jailed for firing into a gang of youths ring any bells?

Originally posted by floyd77
No they're not - air rifles are classed as fire arms, and are treated as such by the law. If youre caught 'fannying about' with an air rifle, youll be very lucky to be let off with a caution.

Teacher in the news recently jailed for firing into a gang of youths ring any bells?
I think if the kids had been shooting at the teachers then ultimately the punishment would have been much less severe. Only recently have air weapons been elevated to firearm status, and even then only in a select few cases.
There is no place in society for airguns. They are deemed as acceptable by most, even though they are laying down the foundations of youth gun culture. There is a stark difference between this conventional looking airgun
http://members.shaw.ca/dlairgun/modell5g.gif
And this, a modern day d**khead rap artist fuelled gun culture airgun
http://www.airgunbuyer.com/ecommerce%5Cthumbs%5Cberettaxxtreme.jpg
Kids dont seem to be able to differentiate between the real guns and this new breed of gas powered full size replicas, and niether do the armed response units who have to deal with them.

Originally posted by johnjo
Not to mention that some chicks in one of the above nests more than likely had a long lingering death from starvation or the cold, there is some low-life taking shots at birds from a window that is immediately opposite the above school.

I think you might be wrong about this one, magpies are famous for killing other bird's chicks, by smashing one of their eggs and laying an identical egg with a magpie chick inside. Magpies rely on other birds to fledge their chicks. Often the large magpie chick takes over the nest and pushes the genuine babies over the side to their deaths.
Magpies have evolved to lay eggs of the same shape, colour and size of other native bird species so that they are not detected.
In certain parts of the country Magpies have been blamed for the decline of the native song bird population, and certain organisations offer rewards for killing them.

In sheffield we are overrun with magpies, we have more magpies than any other city.

Killing Magpies?

Number one suspect has to be a Mackem.

Seriously though maggies have been decimating the population of smaller birds and something needs to be done unless we want blackbirds, thrushes etc etc to go the way of the dodo.

What is disturbing about this is not the fact that magpies may be culled for the benefit of other species, but that any d*ckhead can acquire an air rifle and pick them off at will.

There has got to be something not right in these morons' heads if they are doing this for fun.:loopy:

And as for 'hunting' squirrels, how do you 'hunt' an animal that practically poses and lets you photograph it?

Still, I suppose our wildlife puts up less of a fight than our pensioners do, eh!

I think you might be wrong about this one, magpies are famous for killing other bird's chicks, by smashing one of their eggs and laying an identical egg with a magpie chick inside. Magpies rely on other birds to fledge their chicks. Often the large magpie chick takes over the nest and pushes the genuine babies over the side to their deaths.

Didn't know this, thought it was only the cuckoo that did this. I've learned something new today.

Originally posted by mjlacey21
I'm not sure if there's anything you can do. Someone shot my cat with an airgun a couple of years ago and it's just too hard to find the culprit unless they're caught in the act.

As a geordie this hits me particularly hard...

the same thing happend to my cat it was shot and blinded in one eye luckily i saw the idiot who did it so reported him to the police who turned up at his house with an armed responce vehicle :clap: and led this idiot out handcuffed the last i heard he was sent to prison for a firearms offence

Originally posted by muddycoffee
magpies are famous for killing other bird's chicks, by smashing one of their eggs and laying an identical egg with a magpie chick inside. Magpies rely on other birds to fledge their chicks. Often the large magpie chick takes over the nest and pushes the genuine babies over the side to their deaths.

I thought that was Cuckoos.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I thought that was Cuckoos.

Maybe its a cuckoo that thinks it's a magpie!!!:(

Thanks for your replies.

Lotti: I don't feel like I can complain as animals that are still alive and suffering cruelty should be a proirity over dead animals. I just wish they'd let us know they weren't coming.

Fareast: I didn't say "young people" were causing the problems. To be honest the teenagers who live near me are really decent bunch of kids, they look a bit chavvy but they're good kids. If I thought they'd had anything to do with this I'd be devastated. But they haven't, they really are top lads and lasses.

Good news and bad news.

Bad news? It is legal to shoot magpies with air guns. They are considered to be vermin along with grey squirrels, rats, wood pidgeons etc.

Good news? It is illegal to discharge an air weapon in a public place. A criminal act.
Also if the weapon is above 12ft pounds of force, a Fire Arms Certificate is needed. These can only be issued by the Police.

"I think it's only legal to even use an air rifle if you are going to do shooting practice on your own property any shots that land further than your property are illegal,"

also its ok if you'v permission to shoot on the land your on whether a friends garden,a farm,a shooting range ect,
as a shooter myself, i too (along with hundreds of thousands of others who shoot) am sickened by the idiots that shoot cats,
our sport is under attack by an awfull lot of dangerous people with strange (to put it mildly)agenda's,
and the idiots are the main "help" that these people have,

if you see some one shooting in the street or out of a window into the street ect then don't hesitate to call the police,
ive done this several times myself ,the police often dont thank you (which is unbelivable) but hopefully these idiots will get nicked,

and i dont know what airguns are more powerfull now than the old days as theres still the 12 fpe rule,
any new airgun you buy today will in fact struggle to be over 10 fpe as the manufacturers are lowering the power of them,
and the 100 fpe bit, c'mon ive shot for 15 years now and ive never seen one that could do that ,a few might get upto 40 max (with certificate from the police and being sent back to the manufacturers for the surgery),rimmies yes but not airguns,
and airpistols over 6 fpe are prohibited with a 4 year sentance to go with em (although most will be around 3fpe tops),
co2 pistols will scape in around 1.5 - 2 fpe at the best of times (if that),

any pratt messing around with an airgun should go to prison,the current law as stands says this,however its the lefty police and court system that often wont do anything,
but be carefull if you try to photograph someone "on the brook" personaly id grab the mobile and pretend you'v not seen em,let the police deal with em thats their job,

please don't paint us all with the same brush ,theres over 60 people at my local club (ecclesfield) and the firearms police told us a few weeks ago "he'd not met a better bunch of fellas"

phew..my longest post so far,

JJ..

It is cuckoos, and not magpies, which lay their eggs in another birds nest, but magpies do eat small eggs and young birds.

Originally posted by PhilipB
Good news and bad news.

Bad news? It is legal to shoot magpies with air guns. They are considered to be vermin along with grey squirrels, rats, wood pidgeons etc.

Good news? It is illegal to discharge an air weapon in a public place. A criminal act.
Also if the weapon is above 12ft pounds of force, a Fire Arms Certificate is needed. These can only be issued by the Police.
Dear Philip, Or should I say SIR?

Is your missus called Elizabeth?:hihi:

Hi SV500
I have personally fired FAC rated airguns such as the Farco Co2 shotgun and the 90 ft lbs Career 707. Most precharged or pnuematics can easily be modified, a job which can be done in minutes that then allows you to dial in chamber pressures.
As for C02 gun then yes the velocity drops during rapid fire due to the cooling effect on the gas caused low temp components, this slows down the expansion of the Co2. But there still higher than the 1.2-2 ft lbs you have quoted. High velocities can also be reached by purposely "dieseling" the gun using a low-volatile lubricating oil or squirting ether into the chamber before firing.
If your involved in field target shooting or legitimate hunting on private land then thats fine, but i think club storage should be employed, I think club membership should be compulsory for air pistol shooting ownership.
Years ago I was caught with a 39 ft lbs Sheridan Blue Streak pnuematic on Shirecliffe tip shooting rats, it was obviously tuned well above the limit and I was let off, I know there would be know such luck now as the police carry their own chronographs.

They are not my favourite bird I feel I should defend magpies a little. They only kill young birds to protect resources for their own young and obviously only do it at this time of year.

The RSPB found that songbirds are doing just as badly in areas with few magpies.

Even cats which are more numerous now and kill birds all year round aren't to blame.

It seems that loss of habitat and the use of pesticides (which kills their food) could to be to blame.

Still don't like them scaring the goldfinches from my birdfeeders though :)

As for airguns, they should ban the things. Can't see why anyone needs one and no one but farmers needs to kill wildlife.

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression , when referring to , "young people ".
To be more accurate , I mean , IF , a young person is firing at animals , birds or even people , we shouldn't be too surprised as they've usually been brought up in a culture where guns and violence in general are glorified , admired and sanitised.
I know , obviously , that not ALL teenagers go round taking pot-shots at things from their bedroom windows but when I read about the people who do get caught , they are usually in the younger age group. If you think about those who," progress " from air pistols/ rifles to the more serious hardware and use them in gun battles , they are almost invariably young and have been influenced by the Hollywood gun culture.
I'm not sure about the penalties for young persons shooting at animals. Perhaps someone has some statistics ?
The strange thing to me to emerge from the above is that , in general , we are very wary , as a society , about what we let youngsters watch , as regards sexual matters-----in case they are influenced , in a harmful way. Yet for decades now we have let successive generations wallow in a variety of media-produced violence , usually from America and then we throw up our hands in horror when some of them imitate the violence !

In reponse to muddycoffees feeble attempt at sarcasm I posted an informed, fact based opinion as opposed to an emotive one.

Understandably, instances like this produce an outpouring of disgust and indignation where gut feelings and emotions are expressed.

Personally I loathe the moronic cretins who carry out these sort of acts on other creatures that can't defend themselves.

However, this does not alter the fact that killing certain creatures with an air rifle is legal.
For your edification (presume you have a dictionary muddycoffee) the full list of wildlife is: magpies, jays, crows, rooks, wood pidgeons, rabbits, grey squirrels and rats.

All these may be shot legally with an air rifle on land from which permission has previously been obtained to shoot from the land owner.
It is considered ethical to shoot from a distance of less then 40yards to effect a quick kill and most shooters use guns greater than 12 ft/lb of force.
These as stated in my previous posting, require a Fire Arms Certificate obtainable, after appropriate checks have been made, from the Police.

Originally posted by SallyLaLaLa
It's really strange you should mention this, my cat died the Saturday before that, the 7th. We thought that he had been shot by an air pistol too as he didn't seem to have been run over and there was a lot of blood but no visible injuries. We live in Lower Walkley.

I've been keeping my eye out on the forum for anything similar since. Makes me wonder if it was the same person. We were really upset because he was only just over a year old.

We reported it to the RSPCA and they said they would send an inspector round to get him for a post-mortem but they never turned up and didn't even ring to say they weren't coming.

What kind of sick B****** would want to do something like that to an animal?

I saw a dead cat on the pavement on western road (just below slin street). There was a pool of blood around the head, but no blood in the road so it wasnt roadkill. Didnt know what to make of it at the time, but now the fact of the head being in a pool of blood on the pavement looks possibly consistent with an air rifle shot (obviously I am not an expert though..). Anyway the cat was gone the next day so someone took it away...

By the way muddycoffee, most people when ignorant of the facts tend to try and hide that ignorance.
Any schoolkid would be able to tell you it's the cuckoo that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, not magpie.

Originally posted by floyd77
I would have thought RSPB might be more interested that the RSPCA (what with magpies being birds)

But, there can only be so many windows that have a clear shot at the tree with the magpies in it - go to the coppers and say someone was taking pot shots as you, and were obviously killing birds before that - they might take more interest if a human is involved.
This would I'm afraid be perjury and likely to carry a stiffer penalty than shooting a magpie.


Squirrel lovers may find this article interesting
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/10/nsqui10.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/10/ixhome.html

Then All wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected by law. The level of this protection depends on whether the bird is rare or endangered (these are shown on Schedule 1 of the WCA) but even very common birds such as robins and blackbirds are protected. Some birds can be shot for sport but only at certain times of the year. Other birds may be killed because they are pests (for example, magpies or crows) but this can only be done under certain conditions by authorised persons - see definition above
From here
http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/gunlaw.htm
and from the beeb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1396652.stm

The research suggested the problem lay with the loss of habitat caused by modern agriculture.


more likely.

It could be lucrative :suspect: :heyhey:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23816&item=7158384285&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23816&item=7157734070&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22702&item=7158259867&rd=1&ssPageName=WD2V
and using squirrel tail fur
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23815&item=7157604639&rd=1

and also on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52509&item=7158028917&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52509&item=7158049209&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52509&item=7156791196&rd=1

Originally posted by johnjo

I wondered what peoples thoughts were to this or anything similar


I remember hearing a right commotion at the top of my garden one Spring - birds were going crazy with their alarm calls.

When I got a bit closer I could see that a Magpie had dragged a young bird from it's nest and had it grasped in it's claw on the ground whilst pecking it to death.

Other birds were screeching and flying at the Magpie in some sort of rescue bid.

The noise soon attracted a cat and the birds all scattered, including Magpie with victim still in claw.

Magpies are very attractive birds but I didn't know that they were cannibals.

Magpies are not the only bird that kills chicks.
I have seen Swans drowning ducklings on a lake. A very distressing site to see. I was told by the park warden that the swans are just doing what is natural by removing the competition for food for their own young.
What made things worse, were people feeding the swans with bread and as the ducks came to feed on the bread they were grabbed by the swans and drowned. :(

Sounds like the law of nature for most birds then.
Does this mean some sad little moron has the right to shoot the birds .
No it doesn't.
If that was the case there wouldn't be any birds left.
Leave the magpies alone.

Magpies are omnivores living on a diet of insects, cereals (maize), fruit and berries, carrion (road kills), household waste, plants and vertebrates. The most notorious part of their diet is the plundering of the nests of other birds, taking both eggs and chicks, and this predation has an effect on the populations of some of our songbirds.

Science is now proving what the gamekeepers of past years knew, that magpie predation of nests and fledglings is having a considerable impact on the reproductive capacity of other birds, and that their numbers must be controlled if we are to succeed in increasing our songbird population.

The most worrying point of my post I feel and I repeat, is the fact that some idiot is firing an airgun/pistol opposite a School. The tree that had the Magpies nest in is on the same side as the school.

With regards to the moral dilemma of Magpies taking chicks and eggs, I feel Tara is correct by stating "The law of Nature". Nature is very brutal as we all (or most of us know). If the Magpie's diet consisted of seeds, then we would be all on the same side. Nobody has a problem with a Lion taking newborn calf's of Gazelle's etc.

Anybody with a little knowledge on the UK's bird population (or a TV or Radio) will tell you that the single biggest contributing factor to dropping population levels of songbirds is habitat loss, NOT predation from Magpies. Part of their diet is indeed eggs and chicks, but they have not only just started eating this. 1970's levels of songbirds were not dented by Magpies as there was always a balance. It's only modern day life of humans which is. We see more Magpies in urban areas and Gardens because of the increased popularity of feeding birds (and encroachment of housing into the Countryside) Unfortunately, feeding birds in your Garden can't be selective.

The control of predators like the magpie has resulted in dramatic increases in the songbird population, especially song thrushes, which has been admirably demonstrated by the Game Conservancy at their site at Loddington. The magpie is just one of the many predators, whose numbers have increased dramatically over the past 30 years, which has coincided with the large population decline in our songbirds and they are currently keeping a lid on any sustainable recovery in songbird numbers.

Originally posted by tara
Sounds like the law of nature for most birds then.
Does this mean some sad little moron has the right to shoot the birds .
No it doesn't.
If that was the case there wouldn't be any birds left.
Leave the magpies alone.

I was under the impression that magpies were considered to be vermin, and could be legally shot, or otherwise killed so long as it wasn't cruel.

If you take time to read any of the RSPB 's reports, the decline of songbirds is though to be not greatly affected by the increase in Magpies, sure they will take a few chicks but so will quite a few of our much loved birds.
The decline in songbirds is mainly due to loss of food and habitat in which our farming friends must take a major load of the responsibility.They have systematically destroyed hedges, killed off insects with poisons, planted envoronmaentally unsympathetic things like rape , linseed ect , filled in ponds all whilst collecting their subsidies, and now they can even claim subsidies for replanting the hedgerows they decimated in the first place.
They can even claim money foy leaving a patch of land unploughed in a field in the that a skylark or lapwing [birds they alone put on the endangered list] might care to nest in it.
Farmers dontcha just love 'em.
Rant over
Did you know Sheffield & Nottingham are the Magpie capitals of England.
.

You can do something to stop airgun scum. Look in the Star for recent armed robberies. Then, ring the cops anonymously and suggest that the armed robber lives at the airgun scum's address. They'll smash down his door at 4am armed with rifles and clad in SWAT gear. They'll cuff him and frogmarch him out of the house in his Y fronts. Then to save their faces the cops will charge him with pointing his airgun at officers in pursuit of their duty - whether he did or not.

Originally posted by spartacus
You can do something to stop airgun scum. Look in the Star for recent armed robberies. Then, ring the cops anonymously and suggest that the armed robber lives at the airgun scum's address. They'll smash down his door at 4am armed with rifles and clad in SWAT gear. They'll cuff him and frogmarch him out of the house in his Y fronts. Then to save their faces the cops will charge him with pointing his airgun at officers in pursuit of their duty - whether he did or not.

I used to watch too much telly too :rolleyes:

The Game Conservancy Council may believe that the increase in magpie numbers is responsible for the decrease in songbird numbers but research undertaken by the British Trust for Ornithology on behalf of the RSPB found no evidence to support this belief.

They are in fact looking more closely at farming and gardening methods as it is the availability of food and nesting sites that decides the population.

The number of predators is at best a secondary consideration and it is a shame that they are again being targeted when their numbers are starting to recover from the many years of persecution suffered at the hands of farmers and gamekeepers.

Personally I love to see a sparrowhawk in the garden. Surely we aren't the only animal permitted to kill others?l

The concensus of opinion of forum members is not correct in the case of the Magpie..
A spokesman for the RSPB said on the 3rd of March 2005 that 'The magpie is simply a scapegoat'.
Their numbers have risen to nearly 1.3 million since the war due to lack of gamekeeping and are are now attuned to urban living,
and are thus highly visible.It is unfortunate for for the Magpie that it does predate other birds rather publicly and rather obviously attracts attention to itself.
In fact since the second world war the way that 70% of Britains land surface and crops have been managed has changed leaving many native birds unable to cope, and that is the main reason for the decline of our song birds.
IE Its the farmers and foresters who are in the main responsible for the loss of wildlife not the magpie

I used to hunt purely for "fun", now I hate the idea of killing wildlife for pleasure. If your hunting for food then thats another issue too. Nature has enough on its hands without me adding to it. I love how people try to justify killing animals under the "conservation" banner. Unless your employed in that particular field your talking crap and simply feeding your bloodlust filled ego.
I guess its an age thing too. I used to think I was the big hunter/survivalist/sniper while out on my shooting forays as a lad. Now I am older I simply look at nature in awe.

I used to watch too much telly too



On the contrary, i actually knew someone that this happened to. He lived at Parson cross.
He had a run in with one of his neighbours and the neighbour said she saw him with a rifle at the side of his house. He was
literally dragged out of bed by Police at around 2 am, hancuffed then carted of to the Police station.

Originally posted by ellesbelles
IE Its the farmers and foresters who are in the main responsible for the loss of wildlife not the magpie

That may be the case, but why has land use and management had to change? Because people won't pay realistic prices for food, and instead expect the cheapest food possible.

More intensive farming practices have lead to these problems, but that isn't something farmers can really do anything about. Well, they could technically, but they wouldn't be able to make a living from it.

It's not simply down to it being "the farmers' fault" - there are knock on effects much further along the chain than the farmer.

Originally posted by spartacus
You can do something to stop airgun scum. Look in the Star for recent armed robberies. Then, ring the cops anonymously and suggest that the armed robber lives at the airgun scum's address. They'll smash down his door at 4am armed with rifles and clad in SWAT gear. They'll cuff him and frogmarch him out of the house in his Y fronts. Then to save their faces the cops will charge him with pointing his airgun at officers in pursuit of their duty - whether he did or not.

Imagine what might happen to the grasser when the innocent person was released by red faced police the next day?

I know how I'd be seeking 'justice'.... :mad:

Duh!!! Anonymously means that you don't say who you are when you phone.

Originally posted by spartacus
Duh!!!
was a bit unnecessary ......





There are ways n means in finding grassers out. :thumbsup: I know......

Originally posted by muddycoffee
I think you might be wrong about this one, magpies are famous for killing other bird's chicks, by smashing one of their eggs and laying an identical egg with a magpie chick inside. Magpies rely on other birds to fledge their chicks. Often the large magpie chick takes over the nest and pushes the genuine babies over the side to their deaths.
Magpies have evolved to lay eggs of the same shape, colour and size of other native bird species so that they are not detected.
In certain parts of the country Magpies have been blamed for the decline of the native song bird population, and certain organisations offer rewards for killing them.

In sheffield we are overrun with magpies, we have more magpies than any other city.

Originally posted by Longcol
Killing Magpies?

Number one suspect has to be a Mackem.

Seriously though maggies have been decimating the population of smaller birds and something needs to be done unless we want blackbirds, thrushes etc etc to go the way of the dodo.


Never heard such absolute twaddle in my life. I live less very close to a park and have counted over 27 magpies there at times. Can't recall how the song goes for that many. I've also seen wood pigeon, heard a woodpecker and an owl and seen flocks of other birds there.

I have magpies nesting outside in their own nests that they made themselves and over the last two years we've got a pair of crows, or is it rooks, nesting in trees on this road now, plus a pair of blackbirds and there have been sparrows around this spring too. As well as blue tits, a pair of jays and lots of something my neighbour calls a dummock. And I haven't seen any magpie culling going on.

On the topic of people shooting at animals and wildlife, well this happens. I was shot at by my neighbour's son many years ago while I was in my garden. He supposedly missed the target he was supposedly aiming at but I used to find dead birds with air pellet holes in them in my garden and I am sure he used to fire at my back door and also try and hit my cat. He was reported to the police for this behaviour a number of times and he finally got hauled in when he hit a bouncy castle a neighbour backing on to us had hired for a family party. That was really the last straw for all of us.

His mum took it out on all the neighbours and was a really nasty person herself who obviously thought it was perfectly ok for her son to go round shooting at people and animals and was happy for society to sink to the levels it's now at. This was at least 10 years ago so juveniles misbehaving with air guns is not a new thing to be happening.

If I recall correctly he got done for misusing a fire arm but I don't think he got a prison sentence.

I hope when you mean magpies you're referring to Geordies