PEST SPECIES

daveob007

Can anyone tell me if starlings are regarded as pests or are they protected under the wildlife act??
I am plaqued by dozens of them in my back garden and they are ruining the patio and decking.
I would love to shoot them all but am restriced as i have neighbours.
Is there another way of getting rid of them???

Grizzly 45

Last time I looked they are a pest species.Air rifle is ideal, or a 9mm flobert shot "garden gun"
But since you are in a urban situation...A bunch of hungry cats???

J.R.

Starling are protected.....cannot be shot


All birds are protected now......only two categories can be shot:


1. Game species with an open / close season

2. birds covered under derogation due to crop damage etc.


Wildlife Act 1976 states that the following can be shot but that's now obselete.......

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Greater Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Hooded (Grey) Crow

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Jay

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Magpie

Pigeons, including Wood Pigeon, but not including carrier pigeons, racing horning pigeons or doves

Rook

Starling

mac80

Starling numbers are actually well down over the last few years and are protected anyway.

Mac

Grizzly 45

J.R. wrote: »

Starling are protected.....cannot be shot


All birds are protected now......only two categories can be shot:


1. Game species with an open / close season

2. birds covered under derogation due to crop damage etc.


Wildlife Act 1976 states that the following can be shot but that's now obselete.......

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Greater Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Hooded (Grey) Crow

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Jay

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Magpie

Pigeons, including Wood Pigeon, but not including carrier pigeons, racing horning pigeons or doves

Rook

Starling

Not quite,read the piegon victory post.There is also a stipulation that birds MAY be shot if they are LIKELY to cause damage or carry disease as well.
And this act was replaced with what?????? Or what has made the most commonest bird now protected?Please quote the revelant act.Think we would be all intrested.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

J.R. wrote: »

Starling are protected.....cannot be shot


All birds are protected now......only two categories can be shot:


1. Game species with an open / close season

2. birds covered under derogation due to crop damage etc.


Wildlife Act 1976 states that the following can be shot but that's now obselete.......

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Greater Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Hooded (Grey) Crow

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Jay

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Magpie

Pigeons, including Wood Pigeon, but not including carrier pigeons, racing horning pigeons or doves

Rook

Starling

I am kinda confused. We can or cannot shoot these birds?

Pigeons, magpies, grey crows, and crows are birds I have shot in the past, on a regular basis. Are you saying I cannot shoot them anymore?

Dusty87

You can if they are causing damage or likely to cause damage. Which grey's and mag's always are. And crows and pigeons in an area with crops. Its more so someone has to prove there not causing damage than you prove they are. This is what was explained to me anyways.

J.R.

Amara Future Celery wrote: »

I am kinda confused. We can or cannot shoot these birds?

Pigeons, magpies, grey crows, and crows are birds I have shot in the past, on a regular basis. Are you saying I cannot shoot them anymore?

As mentioned in no: 2 above you can shoot pigeons, magpies, grey crows, rooks (crows) & jackdaws if they are causing damage , or likely to cause damage to crops, young birds, nests, etc. under EU derogation at any time of year.

http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation...d,16425,en.pdf



You can also shoot pigeons during their open season 1st Nov - 31st Jan

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Well there's something new you learn every day...

I never knew that, as for crows, grey crows and maggies, I thought you could always shoot them. I shoot with a LOT of people, at differant times of course, and I never ever heard this...

It's going to be pretty impossible to prove they are NOT doing damage, as they are doing it all the time. Especially when you live in a rural farming area.

Dusty87

Amara Future Celery wrote: »

Well there's something new you learn every day...

I never knew that, as for crows, grey crows and maggies, I thought you could always shoot them. I shoot with a LOT of people, at differant times of course, and I never ever heard this...

It's going to be pretty impossible to prove they are NOT doing damage, as they are doing it all the time. Especially when you live in a rural farming area.

Yea i think its a relatively new thing. No vermin anymore. Just protected and unprotected.

Whippo

Not that I do, but I am at the end of my theder..... Is it legal to shoot swallows/housemartins?? I really do not want to, but we are plagued with the little beggers...I have tried putting up twine around facia but to no effect...!! Just cannot deal with their crap around the place any more....advise really needed...thanks..

Dusty87

No you cant. There protected. Maybe try puttin a plastic bag at the facia. Heard this trick but think its a kind of old wive's tale. I dont mind them, they dont do much damage here. Although herself has a cat (unfortunately), so that probably keeps them at bay

Whippo

Thanks Dusty87, I'll try the bag setup. Thrust me, we always had swallows around our place, but for the last few years we have been inundated with lodging requests..!!! Fair is fair though, and really, I wouldn't shoot the little fellas if I was starving, (miffed when I posted the first)...

Mellor

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Not quite,read the piegon victory post.There is also a stipulation that birds MAY be shot if they are LIKELY to cause damage or carry disease as well.

Likely to cause damage refered to the derogation. The derog states that "X" can be shot if causing damage, and this is where "likely to cause damage" applies. Starlings are not on the current derogation (I think there are about 7 species on it) so it doesn't apply. Although, they are listed in the second schedule so they can be included at any time.

And this act was replaced with what?????? Or what has made the most commonest bird now protected?Please quote the revelant act.Think we would be all intersted.

That would be the 1985 amendment to the wildlife act. So, it's been quite a while that they were protected. They may or may not have appear on numerous derogations over the years. But they haven't been on any for the last few years.

foxhunter

Whippo wrote: »

Not that I do, but I am at the end of my theder..... Is it legal to shoot swallows/housemartins?? I really do not want to, but we are plagued with the little beggers...I have tried putting up twine around facia but to no effect...!! Just cannot deal with their crap around the place any more....advise really needed...thanks..

Hi Whippo if you go to most gun dealers they can get kestrel decoys that float on a light spring wire .
You just screw them to they facia board and the swallows wont dream of building near them.

Dusty87

foxhunter wrote: »

Hi Whippo if you go to most gun dealers they can get kestrel decoys that float on a light spring wire .
You just screw them to they facia board and the swallows wont dream of building near them.

Do they work foxhunter? Iv heard mixed reports. They have somethin like that outside tesco in tullamore. Two magpies over the door and used to have like a material falcon flyin in the wind wit some sort of caller on the speakers. Since they took the falcon down the songbirds are all over the place in there.

Genghiz Cohen

Trapper John has (or had, it's been a while since I was down) a large plastic owl sitting on a pole in his back yard. Keeps all small birds at bay.

daveob007

Was thinking of a decoy but dont want to scare the small birds away,they are rare enough as it is.
Its just those horrible noisy parasites (starlings) i hate.
Went out this morning and found around 20 of them eating from the dogs bowl and of course leaving their crap all over the place as usual.
Protected or not they have to go.

foxhunter

Dusty87 wrote: »

Do they work foxhunter? Iv heard mixed reports. They have somethin like that outside tesco in tullamore. Two magpies over the door and used to have like a material falcon flyin in the wind wit some sort of caller on the speakers. Since they took the falcon down the songbirds are all over the place in there.

Any of them that I've seen seem to do the buisness.

Grizzly 45

Not to sure those Falcon decoys work anymore..I've seen a Kestrel being literally mobbed bya flock of House Martins this morning.

foxshooter243

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Not to sure those Falcon decoys work anymore..I've seen a Kestrel being literally mobbed bya flock of House Martins this morning.

They will work grizzly but youve got to keep moving them, the birds soon cop on if they dont move.

rowa

i used those giant plastic owls a few times on crows and they can work great sometimes , if there is a flock of crows they try to mob the owl and seem to forget everything else including someone shooting them ! some sort of madness comes over them .a falconer tells me that crows and magpies sometimes do this in the wild to real birds of prey.
other times they ignore the owl completely , i suppose if there are not enough of them to mob it they steer clear .

fish slapped

where would all this leave the 30 odd pigeons I've been asked to take care of in the farmers milking parlour??

J.R.

fish slapped wrote: »

where would all this leave the 30 odd pigeons I've been asked to take care of in the farmers milking parlour??

FERAL PIGEONS


These are more than likely feral pigeons and can be shot under EU derogation. If the farmer deems them to be a health risk or they are damaging foodstuffs in his milking parlour then if he asks you to shoot them you are covered......as long as its not too near houses, roads etc.

Feral pigeons can vary in colour....look like a racing / homing pigeon......usually bluish / green...but can also be mostly white.

I shot these for farmers as they are a serious pest. They will come into the spinner with ordinary decoys used. When you have a few shot switch the decoys on spinner for some dead feral pigeons. You can also use your field decoys on the ground ......building up the picture with dead feral pigeons shot. They will come in no problem if well hidden but 'cop on' after a while to the danger.

Feral pigeons perch on roofs and fly in and out of buildings, outhouses, milking parlours etc. so great care is needed when taking the shot...has to be 100% safe....otherwise let them go.

If shooting feral pigeons be extremely careful handling & disposing of them...they can be riddled with disease as they search dumps etc. for food.........often referred to as 'rats with wings'......bring some disposable surgical gloves and bin liners with you & be careful handling & disposing of.

Dusty87

I can tell the difference between each pigeon but here's my problem. What are the chances of a feral comin in contact and infecting a woodie while there both at farms. This is somethin iv always pondered whilst eating pigeon.

J.R.

DISEASES FERAL PIGEONS CARRY

What diseases do feral pigeons carry?
Feral pigeons carry diseases that are harmful to man, significantly more than the brown rat and yet people would not normally dream of feeding rats! The best known disease passed from birds to man is Psittacosis but over 40 more diseases can be passed from feral pigeon to humans, including potentially infectious diseases such as salmonella, tuberculosis and ornithosis.

These birds are also a source of allergens, which can cause respiratory illnesses like pigeon fancier's lung and allergic skin reactions. It is possible for these illnesses to be spread to people through contact with pigeon droppings, feathers, pigeon parasites, or where dead infected pigeons get into food or water sources.

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=249&pageNumber=6