This might be the sort of thing some country folk on STW can help with…

Magpies here at getting more and more annoying. They are constantly waking us up, bashing the windows and attacking other birds.

It's a big chunk of land (5 acres) with loads of trees to hide in so almost impossible to "corner" them – they also fly off if I get anywhere near them.

Are they protected?
Is there any way of calming them down/removing them?
TBH I don't think I could shoot them even if I had a gun – they are too alert and quick.

Might they calm down (being very territorial) later in the year?!

Larsen trap
or air rifle, tempt them in with a stuffed teddy cos it looks like an owl and hide yourself away behind something. They certainly aren't protected and if there is an explosion in numbers the song birds will suffer

Cheers – I just spotted the Larsen trap. I have a farmer mate who might be able to lend me one or two (just asked him) – they are flipping expensive!

magpies are f#cking cool, why woudl you want to hurt them?

They are constantly waking us up, bashing the windows and attacking other birds.

its a countryside thing, if you can't hack it move to a town.

More and more of them around here as well.

Big, bloody bullies they are as well and you can see the song birds starting to suffer.

its a countryside thing, if you can't hack it move to a town.

Thanks oh rural sage of STW but I've lived a rural life most of my 35 years – just not had this issue before.

magpies are f#cking cool, why woudl you want to hurt them?

its a countryside thing, if you can't hack it move to a town.

no. they're aggressive and invasive. saw one with an injured blackbird, held by the beak, still alive, just. evil ba5tard flew off with it.
horrible creatures.
i'm considering buying an airgun because there's a few of 'em round ours.

Thanks oh rural sage of STW but I've lived a rural life most of my 35 years – just not had this issue before.

Me too, but I've seen this pretty regularly. Maybe its an area thing?

It IS a countryside thing, they are naturally aggressive birds and they will take other birds/their young etc and can get pretty worked up about it. It's all part of nature, just leave them to it, it self-regulates for the most part.

A townie here, but we've seen a big increase in Magpie numbers this year. Last year we had Blackbirds & Thrush nesting locally, this year nothing.

Other than risk of incurring the wrath of "be nice to them" townies, would a pest control agency be able to help?

I'm a be-nice-to-them rurally 😉 They're just magpies, leave them to it unless they start pecking your eyeballs out. What are you now, the wildlife police? Protecting the other birds from the WMD of the magpies?

Del – does the phrase "nature, red in tooth and claw" mean anything? They're not evil; just clever, resourceful and aggressive when necessary. A lot like humans really. OP – there's likely to be a good reason why they're aggressive, breeding or perhaps there's a good food supply to protect?

So controlling pests is wrong now is it?!

Here's what the RSPB says:

The RSPB does not oppose legal, site-specific control of magpies, as long as control does not threaten the conservation status of the species. The RSPB is seeking to develop non-lethal methods of controlling corvid predation on its reserves.

The Game Conservancy Trust will advise on the use of the Larsen trap. This is a wire cage trap with a spring-loaded door, designed to catch the bird alive. It can be baited with food, or with a live decoy magpie. This is legal as long as the decoy bird is humanely treated, sheltered and given food and water daily.

The trap must be checked regularly, at least every 24 hours. Any magpie or carrion crow caught may be humanely destroyed. Any non-target species must be released.

If you discover a Larsen trap which contains anything other than a magpie, carrion crow, rook, jackdaw or jay, contact the RSPB's Investigations department or your local Police Wildlife Crime Officer, as these traps can be misused to trap birds of prey.

Magpies may be shot, again only by a landowner or someone acting with the landowner's permission, for the purposes outlined above. Shooting must be well away from public roads and houses, so is seldom possible in urban areas.

It is also legal to destroy a magpie nest, even if it is in use. However, old magpie nests are often used by protected species, such as long-eared owls in rural areas and blackbirds in suburban areas, so check very carefully first.

Surf-Mat – Member

its a countryside thing, if you can't hack it move to a town.

Thanks oh rural sage of STW but I've lived a rural life most of my 35 years – just not had this issue before.

I don't think he knows much about town life either. I live in a highly urbanised area, and the magpies are flipping mental. They practically attack my kids in our back garden.

We had a black bird nest in one of the little fir trees in our garden, 3 little babies in there all happily tweeting away. Then one day we came out and they were all lying on the ground dead. Not torn up or anything like you would expect from a cat, our neighbour suggested this is something magpies have a tendancy to do. Evil things. Almost bought an air rifle….still might…

They're just birds, doing what they've always done.

They're not "evil"! Stop bloody anthropomorphising them – they, like foxes for instance, don't just randomly kill stuff for fun. The magpie probably killed the chicks as they would be competition for food, and they're easy to kill unlike the parents. 😐

The Larsen trap looks the best bet, too easy to mess it up with an air rifle.

don't forget this bit also surf-mat

Magpies are fully protected by the European Union Birds Directive. The UK Government has derogated (made an exception) from the Directive in relation to control of magpies. Under annual general licence issued under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (for which it is not necessary to apply individually), magpies may be killed or taken by authorised persons, using permitted methods, for the purposes of:

•preventing serious damage to agricultural crops or livestock
•preserving public health/air safety
•conserving wild birds.

i don't think banging on your windows qualifies

Make a trap (few bits of wood, bit of chicken wire and a couple of sprung hinges) and buy an air rifle to kill them quickly.

My grandad (in his mid 80s now) has been trapping them like this for years. He owns 120 acres of land (including about 20 acres of woodland) and he's doing a pretty good job of keeping the population under control.

I have lots of Magpies here and they've woken me on plenty of occasions, however I've never felt the need to trap or kill them. Corvids are pretty cool.

And you're miffed because you saw kill a blackbird, so now you want to kill them? That makes sense.

Pest control is for those who work in the countryside trying to earn a living from agriculture or field sports.

Magpies & crows – annoying beasts, would use an air rifle against them if i were in your situation.

I believe there are reports of magpies getting in through open windows and attacking children while they sleep.

No hang on, sorry, that was an eagle.

NUKE THEM FROM ORBIT!
.
I hate Magpies, used to have one that used to sit on our fence at sunrise every morning and make an absolute racket.
Kill it and wear it as a hat.

Magpies are lovely looking birds but in our eyes they are "evil". They are a very aggressive predator, like all corvids they are intelligent, resourceful and above all successful. This success is at the expense of prey species and it is pretty distressing to us. I have plenty of friends who go out of their way to erm… terminate magpies because they are a pest. I understand that beneath that shiny coat they are actually a very small bird and a single shot (airgun) invariably has a terminal effect wherever you hit them – unlike pigeons etc.

We have just had jackdaws nesting near us and they seem to have scared the magpies off – we only ever had a few anyway.

The fact that the RSPB accept they are a pest and can be destroyed/shot within the terms of the general licence suggests that they do have a negative impact on other birds etc.

EDIT : Didn't really come to a conclusion did I? Kill them if you must but then you'll simply be reasserting your place at the top of the food chain, a bit like the magpie is (albeit on a different scale)

(Oh yes, post from a non townie here btw)

On the scale of aggressiveness and damage to prey species, they've got a long way to go to match the us sweet cuddly humans complaining about them though 🙂

+1 for woody2000 and coffeeking

saw one
with an injured blackbird, held by the beak, still
alive, just. evil ba5tard flew off with it.

I saw a lioness catch a gazelle on telly the other night.
Rather than despatch it humanely, in accordance with Welfare Foods standards, she just tore lumps off it while it was still twitching. Evil bitch.

I was so upset I wrote to my MP and demanded that the UN imposed sanctions on lions until such behaviour was stopped.

🙄

The economic activities of man have altered the environment so that conditions favour species which quickly adapt and/or eliminate competition.

Don't punish the magpies for being successful, blame yourselves for creating conditions that favour them…..

Larsen traps here.

They steal the bird food, pick off the young birds and generally cause havoc for other birds.

Air rifle isn't an option, too much time, and the chances of actually killing the bird are quite low, especially with my rifle aim! Shot gun would be better, but again not as easy as a Larsen trap.

Well I'm glad this has sparked a bit of a debate.

I still think those who say "leave them alone" are largely naive fox cuddling townies who just don't understand.

We had major mole issues – I got a good mole catcher and hey presto, problem gone.

We've been here four years – it's only this year that they seem to have got aggressive – I'm sure two of them killed a pigeon last week.

It's not removal for the sake of it – we have tonnes of rabbits – apart from digging a few holes, they do no harm so I leave them.

These magpies tw4t the windows constantly, seem to rather like attacking the car and are generally a pest. All the other birds are fine.

Was I also wrong to have got pest control to remove a hornet's nest? Poor cuddly things meant no harm after all?

Could try a DIY crow cage (used in Scotland by farmers)
chicken wire mesh box, not too big hole in top funnel shpe leading to ground(so they can fly in) and use ground bait in corner (well away from hole), with crows once they had flow in and walked away from the hole they couldn't get out – bang, mind you as the little sods have better mway lane discipline than most drivers they might be able to work it out………….

http://www.ehow.com/how_2080248_scare-away-magpies.html

I still think those who say "leave them alone" are largely naive fox cuddling townies who just don't understand

To be fair, if you needed to ask if they were protected, you're not exactly country folk 🙂

what exactly were the moles doing to be exterminated?

breaking into your house and squeezing your wife's tits whilst she slept?

or just digging up your lawn?

To be fair, if you needed to ask if they were protected, you're not exactly country folk

Do you know the "protected" status of every type of UK bird then?

I doubt it.

Not getting into a "who is the most rural" competition but having worked on farms, done lots of pheasant beats and shoots, have a wife whose family goes back in farming for 100s of years, live on 5 completely secluded acres in the sticks, etc, etc, you'll have a job to "win" – still, I'm sure you'll still try 😆

I'll see if I can borrow a larsen trap.

Yossarian – trashing a lawn I spent a lot of time and money cultivating while ignoring the other 4.5 acres of land they could have used. Digging up rocks which wreck the mower, de-stabilising the ground so part of it collapsed. Nothing much eh – what was I thinking?

You and IM are fitting the "keyboard warrior" stereotype perfectly with your comments. Again.

😆

trashing a lawn I spent a lot of time and money cultivating while ignoring the other 4.5 acres of land they could have used

i bet they did it deliberately

vermin, the lot of them.

an injured blackbird, held by the beak, still alive, just. evil ba5tard flew off with it.

Predator in being-mean-to-prey shocker. Are you vegetarian then?

Another townie steps in… 😆

You and IM are fitting the "keyboard warrior" stereotype perfectly with your comments. Again.

What on earth do you find 'warrior like' in my comments?

You and IM are fitting the "keyboard warrior" stereotype perfectly with your comments. Again.

What on earth do you find 'warrior like' in my comments?

i think he says that when people disagree with him. Look out if I were you, he'll get rentokill round