Sometimes choices have to be made and they are not easy or even nice choices, but they do have to be made
The birds are killed to protect crops, the crops which are eaten by us. If there is a shortage of crops we would have to import more from other countries which would then have a bigger impact on the environment
Corvids and other predatory birds are being killed to protect livestock, not crops.
With birds that damage crops, pigeons for example, I think the same argument still applies.
The numbers of plants that pigeons naturally eat have been altered leaving them less choice and the numbers of animals that would have eaten the pigeons have been altered.
The trend for entire fields of the same crop is a godsend for animals that like to eat them and encourages disease/pest insects hence the need for chemical control.
Fields should be mixed planted with emphasis on providing habitat for all creatures.
Pest creatures are a symptom of a problem not the actual problem in my opinion.
And in the point of not enough crop space, there is a huge amount of wastage in this country, land that is owned but never built or farmed on, huge expanses of houses owned but forever unoccupied, empty buildings that could be utilised as housing but left empty.
I remain unconvinced that there is actually a need to build on any more land.
I also think that instead of Astro turfing everywhere and cramming gardens full of flowers, largely sterile and ornamental a lot of the time, with little no wildlife value people should try and grow at least a little food and we should do more ‘community gardens’ and allotments.