Caged magpies in neighbouring garden

Hi,

I’m looking for advice about two magpies I’ve seen in a cage in a neighbour’s garden (for context, this is in an urban area of South London). They don’t appear to be injured and the cage isn’t illegally small, from what I’ve researched online. However, they have been there for at least a couple of weeks now and I’m concerned about their welfare, particularly because they are close to a very smokey barbecue that’s been in use at least once during that time.

I have contacted the RSPCA twice, via their national helpline and their South London branch. My initial call was very unhelpful, as was their response to the complaint I made: I’ve essentially been told that they think this is probably a legal Larsen trap and that because the birds weren’t obviously suffering, their limited resources mean they won’t be able to investigate them. I’m sympathetic to their situation, but it doesn’t seem like an adequate response. (I’m waiting for more info from my local RSPCA team, who have been much more helpful; I hope this enquiry will be more fruitful.)

I’ve been advised to contact Natural England to see if the owner of the land the trap was on had a license for its use. I’m going to do that, but I wanted to ask this community a few questions about the situation in case anyone had any advice.

• Assuming the birds aren’t unwell and being cared for on a temporary basis, in what circumstances could you legally trap a magpie?
• How quickly are they supposed to be released or killed after capture?
• Would you expect the criteria for trapping magpies to be met in an urban area?

I’m perfectly willing to accept there’s an outside chance that these birds may have been trapped for legitimate (or at least legal) reasons, but it seems so unlikely given they are just sitting in someone’s back garden among other pets. Is this a situation anyone else has encountered?

Thank you in advance, and apologies if I’ve posted this in an incorrect area.

Bethan