johngalway wrote: »

Yes & no. Myself and a mate tried the over Winter trapping. We came to the conclusion, based on catch rate, € cost, and time taken up by caring for the call bird, as not worth the effort. We would go weeks without a catch. In that time you're checking the bird morning & evening, feeding it, moving the trap and positioning and repositioning it in regards to the weather.

I would only bother with Spring/Summer LT use now.

I'm Averaging 6-8 a day over 5 traps at the moment..

Crows are probably the smartest birds we have but this highlights how dangeriously devious they can be - Speaking to the warden at the BWI reserve near Belmullet Co. Mayo a while back, they have noticed a rather disturbing change in Grey Crow behaviour in recent years. Instead of birds pairing up come Spring as breeders and clearing out other birds, more and more pairs appear to tolerate other Hoodies in their territory later in the Spring. This is playing havoc with breeding populations of Lapwing, Dunlin on the reserve as it means these flocks can occupy both adult birds while other hoodies rob the nests. Its got so serious recently that both traps and guns have been intensivly employed early in the spring. Its not known whether these extra hoodies are last years young or are in any way related to the resident breeding pair but it does appear that they act together when targeting vulnerable ground nesting birds of conservation concern.:(

Birdnuts wrote: »

Crows are probably the smartest birds we have but this highlights how dangeriously devious they can be - Speaking to the warden at the BWI reserve near Belmullet Co. Mayo a while back, they have noticed a rather disturbing change in Grey Crow behaviour in recent years. Instead of birds pairing up come Spring as breeders and clearing out other birds, more and more pairs appear to tolerate other Hoodies in their territory later in the Spring. This is playing havoc with breeding populations of Lapwing, Dunlin on the reserve as it means these flocks can occupy both adult birds while other hoodies rob the nests. Its got so serious recently that both traps and guns have been intensivly employed early in the spring. Its not known whether these extra hoodies are last years young or are in any way related to the resident breeding pair but it does appear that they act together when targeting vulnerable ground nesting birds of conservation concern.:(

Seen that around my neck of the woods but only seems common around the costal areas.
For the last 4 years, 2 of us, have taken on average 300 greys and magpies a year and I do believe that songbird numbers are up because of it.
Instead of seeing mags and greys every 100-200 hundred meters when driving it now about 300-400 meters
All 4 birdboxes in the garden raised successful young this year, no magpies hunting my hedges

Terrier wrote: »

Seen that around my neck of the woods but only seems common around the costal areas.
For the last 4 years, 2 of us, have taken on average 300 greys and magpies a year and I do believe that songbird numbers are up because of it.
Instead of seeing mags and greys every 100-200 hundred meters when driving it now about 300-400 meters
All 4 birdboxes in the garden raised successful young this year, no magpies hunting my hedges

We have a local hero of conservation right here folks:D:cool:;)