[Rupert the bear]

The Magpies are decimating the swallows nests this year, there have been considerable losses , as fast as I shoot them more appear and continue the destruction. Its getting quite upsetting.
Does any one have any suggestions on how to deal with this ? So far 28 magpies this month dispatched and a couple of crows.

[Womble]

Larsen trap? 

[Rupert the bear]

got traps ,  savvy lot here     sit in hide, and I hear them behind me , best results are getting hidden* before daylight as I will be again tomorrow morning.
I know their routine, times of recce flights , feeding times, just having to sit and wait.
 

* so well hidden I once had a conversation with the Liquid Nitrogen delivery guy, and he never found me !!

[Rupert the bear]

I've now decided to hang up a few of the dead magpies in the hope of deterring others,would this work ?

[Rupert the bear]

I'm glad to say weeks of sitting on sentry duty and a few deceased magpies strung up along with a couple of owl decoys in the steading the swallow population has recovered somewhat .
The steading has become a "no go " area for the pesky predators, and the swallows are thriving.



I must be mad !

[pgkevet]

I must be mad !

..no argument here..

[doganjo]

No your not mad, but I am!  Bloody magpies are stealing all my eggs.  And they're multplying!  And I don't have a gun.

Fancy a holiday in Scotland?   

[DrMunns]

I've now decided to hang up a few of the dead magpies in the hope of deterring others,would this work ?

It does work, a friend of mine write his dissertation at uni about it

[doganjo]

I just found a half eaten pigeon body that my 19 year old cat got the better of.  Would that work to scare them off do you think 

[Rupert the bear]

I just found a half eaten pigeon body that my 19 year old cat got the better of.  Would that work to scare them off do you think 

half eaten pigeon body = crow magnet !!  life size cutout of the cat might be a better bet 
19 years , well done that cat !
ours lie in the sun and watch the birds go by .

[doganjo]

My neighbour thought he had foxes visitng his garden when he found a few baby rabbits with no heads and front legs.  Umm nope, that's my Rio!!!   

RIP Rio

[CUjimmy]

Set up a larsen trap , if you dont have a call bird from another area, then bait it with an egg , they are very destructive birds and will raid any nests, I have seen them pecking the eyes out of young rabbits while they are still alive, grey squirrels are just as bad, I do a lot of control on a couple of large houses with a bit of land and they are amazed at the amount of song birds etc they are seeing after I started controlling the vermin for them , and there chickens are safe lol   

[Rupert the bear]

Well its that time of year again, Magpie watch. Again I'm making the steading a no go zone for them , 2 decoy crows that seemed to have an effect last year, and as no live firing in side , just blank discharge ( the goats are used to it ) and on the far side of their bit of woodland a ladder trap set up.
The number of returnees this year indicates last years efforts paid off.

[Rupert the bear]

just an update, at the end of June combining shooting and trapping the magpie population has "gone elsewhere", yes there are some on the next door farm but they dont come over.
As a result the swallow population has exploded , I cant get a decent count or then when they rest on the steading roof, looking at 80+ add to that many nests have newly hatched chicks as well that the third brood of the year.
I am ever so pleased ( apart from the never-ending clean up duties !! )

[Penninehillbilly]

We have a Larsen trap set up, not caught anything for ages, saw a magpie upsetting nesting birds in the holly hedge, then saw one kill a blackbird fledgling from the nest,  dead by the time I got there.
Hubs had brought some chicken necks to boil for dogs, too much bother to get meat off, left in fridge and getting smelly,  so i baited Larson and ladder trap, 3 maples in one day.
Also had one on the bird feeders, threw a dead magpie on a nearby hedge, no more magpie there.
And some people don't believe they raid nests and kill fledglings