[Q]

Thats very funny shygirl and now this song is in my head.

All sing together....

One for sorrow, two for gold, three for the one that bit shygirl on the nose......   MAAAAAAAGPIE

[shygirl]

 

[spandit]

If it is in your garden and you don't like it ask your father in law to remove it. If it is in his garden leave it alone he isn't doing anything wrong as long as the call bird is fed watered and has shelter.

It's our garden - we all live here...

[tizaala]

Build a hide near a tree that is on their regular predation circuit , Shoot one, hang it in a tree, the others come and investigate the hanging one and you can pop them off one at a time ,hang them all up as you shoot them, bloody vermin, I once had 17 of them in 2 hours using this method.

[spandit]

Build a hide near a tree that is on their regular predation circuit , Shoot one, hang it in a tree, the others come and investigate the hanging one and you can pop them off one at a time ,hang them all up as you shoot them, bloody vermin, I once had 17 of them in 2 hours using this method.

Bloody hell, that's good shooting - what were you using? I'm not opposed to killing them, per se, it's the fact that there is a live one in a cage - got very distressed when the dogs took an interest

[tizaala]

Just an o/u Baikal 12 bore, just hang them out like xmas decorations, the natural curiosity brings them in one at a time . 

[Izzy]

From what I understand about research into natural populations and predation I would like to add the following.
 
If you start in spring with a cock and hen of any bird you need to end up with another pair in a year's time in order to say the population is stable. If they produce two broods each of 10 young then you can tolerate the loss of 20 individuals to all causes (magpies, cold, starvation, disease). If you remove magpies you allow many more youngsters get to autumn. In most species you then find they suffer major losses due to cold/starvation. So from the scientists' viewpoint removing magpies has no impact on the population. But from the onlookers viewpoint they have a garden full of wee birds all summer.
 
I realise OP that I haven't helped you with regard to your father in law but I thought the point needed to be made.

[john and helen]

We have more than our fair share here…they seem to have been on a mission to boost their population…
the songbirds have defiantly gone down in numbers…. I shoot as many as i can when out in the fields,but sadly its not possible to do this in the town…

and yes, the larsen trap will attract many magpies..they think the trap bird has food…thats why you will often see a few around a roadkill …

it does pay to keep the trapped bird healthy..so he calls in the others

[midtown]

Just to clarify the legality and use of Larsen traps, I can do no better than recommend the following handout from The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust:-
http://www.gwct.org.uk/media/372992/Larsen-use-guidelines-2014.pdf

[Fleecewife]

Just to clarify the legality and use of Larsen traps, I can do no better than recommend the following handout from The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust:-
http://www.gwct.org.uk/media/372992/Larsen-use-guidelines-2014.pdf

Thank you midtown - that was extremely useful.  I found the details of the life and social set-up of magpies to be fascinating.

I am also interested in the fact that sometimes birds are released alive.  Where are they taken?  Won't they just fly back home?

[cloddopper]

Magpies are on the general licence as vermin/ pests and are on it so those with the required paperwork can legally try and control them .

 The magpie is the most successful predatory bird we have in the UK , it is thought that they kill off millions of other birds ..more than even our, " delightful, lovely ,fluffy , furry or cuddly" cats kill .

It's not unusual to see pairs of magpies flying the hedge lines looking for birds to fly out or see that ,"  beautiful"  bird watching a hedge /bush from a tree looking for where the nesting birds are coming from or going to .

 They have their young hatch a few days after most of the smaller birds , so find the small birds chicks and " bubbed " eggs a useful source of food for their own chicks.

 Magpies are apparently on par with squirrels for nicking eggs and chicks.
 

[bloomer]

do you think i could get away with using one on a housing estate...


my pain in the arse freaky weird neighbour actually encourages them into the area and they scare my kids!!!


he scatters catfood on his front lawn for them and the bloody huge seagulls which are possibly even more intimidating!!!


every neighbour in the street has asked him to stop and he says they're nice to look at...


a trap in my front garden would maybe get the message across!!!


not sure my other neighbours would be 100% behind the plan, but it is tempting!!!

[chrismahon]

The large number of Magpies is yet another example of a Government legislating blindly to catch votes. I can remember mid-80's when the killing of magpies was outlawed. Up to that point very few were seen. Only two years later and the countryside was inundated with them and the wild bird population had plummeted. The Government reversed the decision but it was too late. Hundreds of years of countryside management had been irreversibly ruined.


I used to kill them at every opportunity. They killed all the baby birds in the garden and even attacked our bantams. I wish I had used a Larsen trap as they are extremely effective. Being territorial, magpies will attack an intruder, so your bait bird should come from another area for best effect. They very quickly become tame and ineffective so the bait bird should be replaced regularly. Shooting them with an air rifle is only simple when they are young and inexperienced, as their eyesight is phenomenal and they can spot you 50 yards away, well out of range.


I hated the noise they made as well. Haven't seen one in this region of France. Suppose the Buzzards have eaten them!

[sabrina]

I have a pair that may be nice to look at but get on my nerves. They are a right pain, taking young birds but so far have not got any of young chickens. Mother hen keeps them safe. We have 2 cats so magpie's know this and are wary. Although they do skirt around our place my brothers thinks at some point the cats maybe killed their young. Birds of the crow family never forget danger, he says.