Magpies - what to do?

[nikita]

Magpies are corvids, so no problems killing them, a decent air rifle will do the job. No licence or permission required, if they're on your land, they're yours to shoot.

 

Just be careful where you shoot..I am a childminder one afternoon a couple of years ago the children I mind were playing in my garden, my neighbours teenage lazy arse son was hanging out his bedroom window shooting birds

I phoned police said he was waving this gun out of window, and they were there within half hour he never did it again,

[Ryedo40]

Magpies - Legal status:

 

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/m/magpie/legal_status.aspx

[horribleblob]

Magpies - Legal status:

 

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/m/magpie/legal_status.aspx

 

Pertinent post. Solomon, you may also find the 'legal control methods' page interesting - particularly the last two paragraphs.

[Solomon1]

Magpies - Legal status:

 

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/m/magpie/legal_status.aspx

 

Perfect. Thanks Ryedo. My culling would come under the 'conserving wild birds' category - as in other wild birds

[Janus]

They need a distraction. https://www.facebook.com/1538053589794078/photos/pb.1538053589794078.-2207520000.1429083448./1563285953937508/?type=1&theater

 

Just remind me...what`s that saying, a bird in the hand being worth something....

 

 

[Ryedo40]

Perfect. Thanks Ryedo. My culling would come under the 'conserving wild birds' category - as in other wild birds

 

Hope you understand the following:

 

 

"...Gun laws prevent shooting of magpies close to public roads and houses.

 

We are not opposed to legal, site-specific control of magpies, nor to the legal use of Larsen or other cage traps, as long as the general licence conditions are strictly adhered to.

 

We do oppose illegal magpie control, including poisoning, which has a high risk of accidentally poisoning other birds, including rare birds of prey.

 

Many people wish to control magpies in gardens because they take eggs and chicks of other birds. Since research indicates that magpies do not pose a conservation problem to garden birds, the use of general licence in this context is at best debateable.

 

It must be remembered that if challenged, anyone killing magpies in their garden may have to prove to a court of law that they had acted lawfully. This may be difficult given the lack of scientific evidence that magpies affect the conservation of garden bird species."

[aliceBB]

Our problem is jackdaws. This year, they are hell bent on building their labrynthine nest under our solar panels. There are plenty of other places nearby they could go, but we really don't want them damaging the cabling to the panels with their beaks, ever-larger twigs, sticks, lumps of sheep's wool, old socks, feathers, etc. etc.

 

So, we put up my scaffolding and are clearing the nest out twice a day in the hope that they will get the message and give up. So far, they haven't. They just grumpily go off and find some more twigs and come back and shove them under with renewed enthusiasm.

 

The solar panel installers can erect some sort of guard around the whole lot, but it is expensive and has basic design flaws (can be removed by determined birds, and if they make a hole in it and shove nestbuilding stuff under, you cannot get at it to remove the nest!).

 

If anyone knows how long we will have to keep up this battle, or if there is a more effective deterrent, I'd be very glad to hear of it.