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loads of options for feeding small birds and keeping the big ones off
An upturned shopping basket would do the job!
You'll keep the magpie's off the bird table as well - but they they're happiest just eating the baby birds out of other nests anyway...
Get a cocker spaniel, mine absolutely loves chasing pigeons
Our Cockapoo loved chasing the magpies and seagulls. The magpies sit on the fence and taunt him into jumping up at them. They all seem to enjoy it.
I got shot in the head with a BB gun once, plastic pellet. I had a massive egg-shaped bruise as a result.
There are some strangely satisfying clips on you tube of airsoft warriors squeezing plastic bb’s out of egg shaped mounds on their foreheads
You should get Harry the Spider to come round with his BB firing Tiger tank!😀
There are some strangely satisfying clips on you tube of airsoft warriors squeezing plastic bb’s out of egg shaped mounds on their foreheads
Must not Google. Must. Not. Google.
That's a bawhair away from trypophobia.
Pigeons are cool, just think about your feeders and arrangement. My neighbour was always feeding the pigeons so we had more than our fare share. She’s recently moved. On the gruesome plus side we get sparrow hawks preying on them, it’s quite a sight to see the predators at work.
My mum has had to save a cat sliding down their conservatory roof
It's mew was too low?
Fake mews?
Wait till the parakeets arrive. These are acrobatic seed hoovers. I quite like them.
We have a separate needed at the back of the gardens that is for the pigeons. They can feed on it from the fence and just line up and take their turn. They also eat of the floor for spilled seed of the other feeder. Until Henry the cocker puppy starts to get interested.
MY parents had issues with squirrels eating all the bird food. They got a squirrel proof feeder, hung it on a wire from a high tree branch. the following week they found it at the other end of the garden busted open. I suspect corvids ( or they had a super squirrel)
For nearly every post on this thread, I'm a little sad there's no "...Parklife!" at the end.
The thing with magpies is they are nasty buggers but only for 3 months when eating chicks is easy.
Ive been very happy too see them shot in the past but this year I've been feeding them monkey nuts only the the magpies and the crows can open them and even opened the tub to help themselves. Because of this they left the nesting birds alone and we have more small birds including wren and goldfinch.
Then some arse down the road aprrently shot half of them because they chucked the moss out of his gutters.
If you want rid of pigeons get a falcon.
Make the feeders too ‘swing-y’ for a big pigeon.
Doesn’t work, they just see it as a bit more of a challenge. They go for the suet balls and the sunflower hearts, different types of feeder, and I’ve moved the feeders all over the tree to try to stop them hoovering up all the food, but there’s only certain branches to hang feeders on, and the pigeons will stretch out and almost overbalance while the feeder is swinging away from them, while they’re perched on another branch, and they’ll keep at it for ages.
Seems a bit uneco to be firing plastic pellets into the garden to sit until the end of time.
An upturned shopping basket would do the job!
And they only cost a quid at Tesco.
If you want rid of pigeons get a falcon.
Does a falcon specifically target pigeons? And what do you get when the falcons become a nuisance, it could escalate!
I’ve been shot in the bollocks with a bb gun, plastic ball though, so not all that painful.
Stung a bit.
Not sure we need to hear about your sexual activities.
If you go down the BB route, what happens if/when you get reported to the RSPCA?
Go on ebay and get a sekiden gun, load it with dried peas. Its not going to harm anything, its eco friendly and the other birds can eat the peas.
Or even a peashooter- channel your inner menace.
If you go down the BB route, what happens if/when you get reported to the RSPCA?
Never mind the RSPCA, if you have a particularly pissed off neighbour you might even get a visit from some nice policemen with guns of their own.
I’ll re-post this.
It doesn’t matter what you shoot at the it’s illegal under the general license.
You need a reason to need them away and proof you have tried non lethal methods before killing them
Firing plastic at them is illegal any way you look at it.
Breaks the wildlife and countryside act.
^ that.
Had a seagull chick marauding about the front garden earlier, not tempted to shoot it (I don't know that I've ever shot a gun tbh) but I was tempted to dispatch it with a size 10.
Didn't, obv, but still. Bastards. 🤣
it's not illegal
https://basc.org.uk/gl/england/
Pigeons can be shot for a number of reasons. Inc nesting in the wrong spot
also, you don't need to try and scare them first
Can I shoot or trap pest birds if I haven’t tried non-lethal methods?
Yes.The general licences require that, before and alongside their use, reasonable endeavours are made to achieve the purpose in question using lawful methods not covered by the licences, unless such endeavours would be impractical, without effect or disproportionate in the circumstances.
However, I don't think one of the reasons is 'depriving other prettier birds of a bit of scran'
now, if you were to change the OP and say you slipped in poo, or they nibbled your peas, go for it. Nothing stopping you.
Umm you do realise you highlighted the exact bit that says you have to make reasonable efforts before shooting?
Brads isn't a rookie, I'm sure he knows a hell of a lot more about the general licence and BASC interpretation than you or I.
As an air rifle holder I'm damn sure that would be a quick way to get my licence and guns taken off me, regardless of whether I used those or an airsoft gun. I also know that when shooting something you shoot to kill, instantly, or not at all, anything else is just cruelty and a wildlife crime.
reasonable....unless
there's a catch. You don't have to make reasonable efforts. I did highlight it
however, i will bow out. I'm not trying to start an argument. I'm just posting the actual
rules, rather than the guidance
You are not required to use alternative, lawful methods under condition 1(a) and 1(b) where the use of such methods would be impractical, without effect or disproportionate in the circumstances.
low powered airsoft spring pistol. like 30fps. You can see the bb fly. Get a small colt .38 auto replica. Harmless with such a short barrel. I harass the wood pigeons all the time who crap on the side of my parapet walk. Use biodegradable bbs.
Brads isn’t a rookie, I’m sure he knows a hell of a lot more about the general licence and BASC interpretation than you or I.
He might not be a rookie, and he can post as many times as he wants, but he clearly hasn't read the thread.
Oh I have
It’s illegal and you don’t have to use other methods , you just have to justify why you cannot use other methods and prove it
I know what I’m talking about , trust me.
This thread is about illegally harming wild birds.
What more do I need to know
Brads knows his stuff on this.
you when yo have someone who works in a feild, knows their stuff its usually w=orth listening to them
Supersoakwer or nerf you might get away with. BB gun? Nope.
honestly - I'm not trying to start an argument. And I'm sure Brads knows his stuff. Pretend I'm a naif, reading the licence
The GL I linked to says I can kill pigeons over health concerns
I should try non lethal methods first, unless impractical
So two questions
1) I've tried non lethal methods. Didn't work. So I can move onto shooting them (it does say 'before using this licence'). Why is that illegal?
2) I've not tried non-lethal methods as impractical; they eat my crops when I'm asleep. I've proof over weeks I've been asleep. So I can shoot them. What's illegal?
Honestly - I want to follow the law. The law to me says both examples are legal. You say not. Could you elaborate?
ETA - I'm not talking BB here. I'm talking air-rifle
Wait till the parakeets arrive. These are acrobatic seed hoovers. I quite like them
Occasionally have them turning up in my garden. Luckily its still occasional and only a handful since the localish winter roost site gets up to about 3-500 of them.
If they invited all their mates I would either have to abandon the bird feeder idea or try scaring the sods away. Its hard and costly enough feeding the starlings during the nesting season which seems to be dropping off now as the nibbles and fatballs seem to be lasting into a second day now.
He might not be a rookie, and he can post as many times as he wants, but he clearly hasn’t read the thread.
You’re the OP
What have you learned and what makes you think I haven’t read the thread?
You’re the one planning to illegally hurt wild birds , so have you changed your mind?
You haven't read it, have you.
Yup
Every word
You decided to leave them alone and the discussion continued about shooting them
I contributed
What’s your problem?
Between this....
You’re the one planning to illegally hurt wild birds , so have you changed your mind?
... and this 25 minutes later....
You decided to leave them alone and the discussion continued about shooting them
... you DID read the thread. Well done.
What ? I asked you what changed your mind ?
I still don’t get it . What’s your problem? Is it because you were called out for planning something stupid ?
No wait , I typed have instead of what
Either way you were planning something stupid so please don’t try and divert away from that.
I’m only informing other why you would have been stupid.
And patronising is for dicks
I think I'll leave you to it.
Why do you need to kill them ?
I haven't said I want to kill anything. Not my pigeons after all
All I've said is it's not illegal as long as you follow the law.
The two examples I came up with; what is illegal about either?
So I can move onto shooting them
I took that as meaning you want to kill them.
As long as you have a reaso ( crop protection , health of animals or humans etc) and you have tried non lethal means or they are unavailable or impractical then under the general license you can shoot them.
It’s pretty straight forward.
Non lethal means do not involve BB guns or pea shooters
that's a hypothetical "move onto shooting them"
okay, so we're agreed I (or anyone else) can [hypothetically] kill pigeons that interfere with the garden (either through being detrimental to my health or eating my crops) with no illegality involved*.
That was the only point I was raising.
*obviously using a firearm at all brings other restrictions.
If they're shitting in your house I'd say you've got bigger issues than how you dispatch them. You do realise it's only dried guano that is toxic and even then in a poorly ventilated space.
So that's one reason gone.
For crops, it's not exactly demanding to net them in a garden or even a smallholding. There's one perfectly reasonable non-lethal solution.
Reason number two gone.
You know, its times like this I actually feel grateful for the licensing system up here, flawed as it is, since it gives the Elmers less options.
The license system is easy to work with. “Elmers “ use it to allow shooting.:)
Even when it’s being challenged.
Shooters have been ruled by it for as long as I can remember.
It’s the wildlife and Countryside act that protects birds and animals from cruelty.
I’ve even trapped birds for release rather than shoot them , and nowadays almost every crop field i shoot has scarers already in place.
Garden birds should rarely if ever need killed.
Good job no-one's asking how to kill birds, right?