They call themselves Wild Justice, a not-for-profit organisation, which was launched in February 2019 with the aim of using the law to further nature conservation and wildlife protection. On the face of it, a very worthy cause but, unfortunately, their first legal challenge, which questioned the issuing of general licences 04, 05 and 06, has resulted in utter chaos in the countryside.
General licences have been issued annually since the 1990’s by Natural England and, without going into great depth, allow the killing of sixteen bird species, including crows and pigeons, for the conservation of other wild birds, the protection of livestock and crops, and preventing the spread of disease. When challenged by Wild Justice, Natural England, with a knee-jerk reaction, revoked the aforementioned licences on 25th April leaving farmers, gamekeepers and conservationists helpless and vulnerable at a crucial time of the year.
Imagine the frustration of the farmer who has thousands of pigeons descending on his newly sown crops or has crows attacking his in-labour ewes and killing their lambs as soon as they are born. The general licences, before they were revoked, permitted the killing of these birds provided that all other methods of prevention had been explored and tried. The most frequently employed deterrent against marauding wood pigeons is the gas gun, which gives-off a loud bang on a regular basis. However, experience shows that they are an effective deterrent for a limited time before the vast flocks of pigeons become used to their presence and whilst they may lift off when the gun fires they will simply settle again, either on the same field or one nearby. However else, other than shooting, is a farmer supposed to deter pigeons over vast acres of arable land is a mystery the solution to which is not helped by the naivety and down right ignorance of those who write the general licences and I quote below advice on deterring pigeons taken from the newly issued replacement general licence.
“If using scarecrows, make it look as real as possible, dress it in your old clothes, sit it on a chair and put a gun-like stick in its hand, move it regularly (ideally daily or more frequently). Occasionally change places with the scarecrow and use this method to shoot to scare or to kill woodpigeons (under licence).”
Let me tell you that this has obviously been written by someone who has absolutely no experience of the wood pigeon that has the eyes and reactions of a hawk and the intelligence of a crow. To shoot pigeons effectively requires considerable skill and knowledge, and the successful pigeon controller will shoot from a hide over a pattern of decoys that have been laid-out in a manner to simulate feeding birds to attract the pigeons to a distance within his effective and humane gun shot. The idea of a busy farmer having the time to sit in a chair imitating a scarecrow in order to scare or shoot the occasional pigeon that’s stupid enough to come within range is farcical and an insult to the countryman’s intelligence.
Wood pigeons breed between April and October having three or four broods during that period so they are a very successful species and one that, like deer, need controlling if their numbers are not to assume plague proportions. Their numbers have traditionally been controlled by pigeon shooters whose harvest will generally end up in restaurants and on domestic tables as very tasty and nutritious food so let’s see common sense prevail and leave the countryside to the countrymen who know what it’s all about and how it works.
Must go now, I’ve got a crow to scare!
Ian Thew
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