Dear Staff
For the third year running local magpies have raided our garden blackbirds nests and pigeon nest! They have taken every baby chic in our garden. For the third year, no chics have been seen. We have witnessed the Magpies actually patrolling the nest and working as a pair to cause this destruction. If this is happening here it is happening everywhere!
We do everything possible to help the songbird population. The Magpie situation is very upsetting indeed.
I have counted over 30 Magpies within a few metres of our garden but walking around Longham Lakes near Ferndown or Wick riverbank in Christchurch Dorset, we count literally hundreds of them!
Please tell me if you are taking any action to preserve and protect our songbird population? There will not be any songbirds left if we allow the Magpie population to grow and the vast killing of baby birds allowed to continue.
Looking at your website you show some very impressive work. but maybe further protection of our garden birds against the huge number of Magpies should be more of a priority. I know many of my late relatives who have donated funds to the RSPB due to the joy they received from watching flourishing songbirds, would be very disappointed to know the magpies in out of control numbers are decimation our beloved songbird population.
With Thanks
Mrs A Oliver
Alison Oliver
Staff don't respond to 'policy' on the community forum. You may get a reply if you contact HQ via postal service.
However, to ensure you get some sort of response on here, I'll start the replies.
I totally empathise. Large numbers of nests are lost, not just to magpies. Jays, crows, sparrowhawks, mammals including cats. That has always been the case (though more so for cats so since the population grew and kept growing).
You are mistaken though regarding the impact they have. Pigeons (ignore the 'amber' status....it's extremely misleading) are booming. Just think how many there would be if their nests didn't fail on an alarmingly regular basis. Blackbird population trends are mixed. The biggest issue for them is loss of habitat (especially gardens incl lawns).
A case can be made regarding wildlife sensitive areas, esp ones containing rare and endangered species. Clearly though, garden settings are not places where it's appropriate to have culls etc.