Corvid cull looming

It looks like we are back to the old "gamekeepers gibbet" again where 'keepers hung the results of their killing of "vermin"on the nearest fence to show their gaffers how good they were at doing their job.Corvids have always been opportunist feeders and taken anything that is edible.loss of habitat in farmland may mean they are getting food from different sources now but nature usually manages to even things out without our help.It was mentioned on another thread the other day that there seems to be more Magpies around these days if tis cull goes ahead they may end up on the red list.

Unknown said:

A frightening and cruel proposition. Some people need no excuse to kill and maim other living creatures but others try to invent reasons.

May I strongly object to the comment that cat owners will support this, rather insulting and I completely fail to see the logic?

Also, I would feel no less angry about this proposed cull if magpies did kill "my" blackbird chicks, I never judge animals in this silly manner. Why do people insist on regarding animals and birds as if they are human and talk as if they kill for any other reason but survival.

I am so fed up of hearing humans tell me it is acceptable to club grey squirrels to death, cull badgers and now kill crows and magpies. We are so arrogant and show no sign of changing, I just despair.

Totally agree. I have a cat (thankfully one that completely ignores birds, even the ones in the house), but even if I had one that was more outgoing, it would be down to me to make sure it and the birds could co-exist by laying out the garden so that the birds could eat in safety. Magpies have been known to raid nests in our garden. Yes, we help the blackbird chase them off, and chase off the sparrowhawk if we see it, but at the end of the day they're just doing what comes naturally, and they have to eat too, and the best thing we can do is to make sure that there are enough alternative food sources, for the magpies at least, to make sure they don't have to resort to a more difficult source of food (getting past adult birds for chicks or eggs) because there's nothing easy for them to get.

The biggest pest on this planet..........The Human Race.

The culling of any bird makes me sick.

A friend of my wife has a petition against this appaling cull running here..... http://pixiepaj.com/wildlifevillage/?page_id=782

Please sign.

HI All

I was reading this in the Mail yesterday and was truly shocked. Like everything else all these statements come out without any proof or study being done.

Then another idea hit me, as man has been the main reason for the loss of most of our wildlife over the years may be we could pick a trial area and have a cull of them. Does anyone has any suggestion of where to start ?   

This is of course very silly and there would be uproar if suggested, but how is it that people don't feel the same for the birds or badgers ???

Robert 

michael s said:

Plenty of us in the countryside with no connection with other society's regard the fact that corvids have become too plentiful and the old argument of doing nothing and nature takes its course not applicable because everything humans do has affected the populations of different species.Think if people had Magpies taking young birds in their garden they may think differently and the strange thing is that shooting estates claim and I do not know if this correct but suspect it is that their are more songbirds where they control Corvids and personally I see no connection that because I think too many Corvids why should I hate Raptors.A completely different argument.

Sooty,     The problem with this subject in my view is that you can't isolate one individual factor.  I suspect there always will be an increase in some songbirds on estates because of the game crops that are put down.  A similar result to the seed patches at Arne.   That itself will attract predators in and Game estates do control corvids with Larsen Traps which probably work at a very local level.   I would argue that at the much wider national viewpoint habitat (or lack of it) is going to be the big problem.

Rockwolf said:

one reason for the increase in corvid population may well be the recent trend to feed garden birds during the breeding season and to use suitable feed materials, this results in a higher survival rate in the prey species which nature reacts to with an increase in predators 

Not to mention our rubbish!

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Yes, humans are messy, interfering and some creatures are very good as adapting to the environment we have created for them.  Mapgies are one of these - more of them are surviving winter on our rubbish and roadkill so more of them are around to breed more in the spring - all those babies have to be fed.... An excellent food source is smaller birds, their fledglings and eggs - but there are just not enough of the smaller birds to sustain this - natural compensation (extra broods and larger broods) isn't working because the balance is too far tipped in the Magpie's favour.  Humans have caused this problem - humans are going to have to fix it; if this means finding out what the proper balance should be by experimenting on the problem then I'm all for it - if we leave things the way they are at the moment we will no longer have any small birds to worry about. 

barman58 said:

Oh so they're back ;-((

Last time about 6 years ago it was raptors that were to blame

Strange that the targets for this group apper to be a copy of the old images we see of the gamekeepers cottage with all the dead BoP and crows on show for his lordship.

 http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=27404

 

What do you mean 'back'?  They haven't gone away - It is just up to us, the press and the general public as to whether you hear about them every day or not... public opinion is a fickle thing - if your face isn't rubbed in it, you don't even think about it, let alone care.

Well said. My sentiments entirely.

Regards

RK

Unknown said:

The biggest pest on this planet..........The Human Race.

The culling of any bird makes me sick.