There is some debate going on about the loss of song-birds. Some suggest magpies are to blame.
I suspect there are more powerful (human) influences on the decline in the population of small birds.
Cull magpies or ???
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alan refail
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Last year there was a nest in the hedge on our allotment with four chicks in. Don,t know what type of bird, but one by one the magpies picked them off. There was a lot of magpies around our allotments last year. Haven,t seen any this year yet but I don,t know much about birds, maybe they are not supposed to be around yet. Just read peters reply, don,t think it was cats that got our chicks. Didn,t actually see what got them, maybe we are doing the magpies a injustice.
I shoot any Magpies that come onto my place and since I have pursued this policy the amount of song birds has risen appreciably.
I suspect the RSPB are speaking with a forked tongue because they themselves have in the past culled many many Magpies, maybe not officially, but I can assure you that it occurs. They also roll Black Headed Gull nests in their quest to safeguard their emblem bird the Avocet and also Little Tern colonies.
JB.
I suspect the RSPB are speaking with a forked tongue because they themselves have in the past culled many many Magpies, maybe not officially, but I can assure you that it occurs. They also roll Black Headed Gull nests in their quest to safeguard their emblem bird the Avocet and also Little Tern colonies.
JB.
why do we humans think we can go round killing other creatures just because we dont like something about them magpies naturally eat young birds and eggs,also small mammals and insects as well as other things, its NATURE, at least they dont eat mass produced, mutant, caged animals like the average human does.
alan refail wrote:There is some debate going on about the loss of song-birds. Some suggest magpies are to blame.
I suspect there are more powerful (human) influences on the decline in the population of small birds.
I don't think shooting/culling/killing a few magpies is likely to make a permanent difference. I'm sure that the "more powerful (human) influences" Alan had in mind were the massive changes in agriculture over the past fifty years. And probably more to come.
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Primrose
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I'm not sure whether birds, squirrels or cats were to blame for this one but a couple of week ago we came down tlo breakfast and found the top lifting lid of a bird box on one of our fences had been lifted up, leaving the inside of the box totally exposed. We don't know whether the blue tits had yet laid their eggs but when we checked there were no sign of any. Sadly the tits have now abandoned the nest but the mystery is "Who lifted the lid because it was a very tight fit and even I had to struggle to get it open?" We've now wired the lid down but I fear the birds won't return to a nest which has been violated.
Hi Greenman,
I ask you to pause and think on this. When I started shooting Magpies there were about 20 that used to ravage the district and no birds were safe. Now just consider 10 pairs of Magpies all producing a clutch of 4 eggs which means that at the end of the season there are 60 Magpies at the end of the season. Now they will not all stay in the district but if the population doubles every year then very soon the wildlife in the district will be so depleted that it means that there is virtually nothing about because of Magpies. I have been shooting Magpies for nearing thirty years and the bird life hereabouts is fantastic.
Just two Magpies feeding four young can totally deplete a district of song birds and also all the ground nesting birds.
I ask you to think again! I consider that the RSPB are totally wrong in what they have said.
JB.
I ask you to pause and think on this. When I started shooting Magpies there were about 20 that used to ravage the district and no birds were safe. Now just consider 10 pairs of Magpies all producing a clutch of 4 eggs which means that at the end of the season there are 60 Magpies at the end of the season. Now they will not all stay in the district but if the population doubles every year then very soon the wildlife in the district will be so depleted that it means that there is virtually nothing about because of Magpies. I have been shooting Magpies for nearing thirty years and the bird life hereabouts is fantastic.
Just two Magpies feeding four young can totally deplete a district of song birds and also all the ground nesting birds.
I ask you to think again! I consider that the RSPB are totally wrong in what they have said.
JB.