To consider buying a catapult...

[falcon]

To kill the magpies who have been plaguing us and particuarly our cats, for weeks now?

It's beyond a joke now, the cats can't go anywhere without at least 2 of them following them, dancing round them and pecking at them, and the noise is driving me insane.

I just looked out the window and they're harassing another cat, and making that same incredibly irritating noise, like a walrus being machine gunned as Basil Fawlty once said.

I was just considering purchasing a supersoaker, but now a catapult seems more appropriate.

I'm trying to find a pest control service that can eliminate magpies and not all birds in the vicinity.

The cat was being mobbed by 4 of them today and finally got one, it was foolish enough to go within a foot of my cat,but there are at least another 4 to be taken care of.

I'd buy a catapault if it would get rid of the f*ing wood pigeons!

What do the woodpigeons do if I may ask?

We have a lot around here all huge and very plump, has anyone actually ever seen a skinny woodpigeon?

While they don't bother me, they do look very tasty.

Don't lower yourself to their level, they are animals, you have a higher brain therefore a choice...get the supersoaker, that'll do the job of keeping them away without the cruelty.

air gun?

my cat is good at catching woodpigeons, though he seems to get full after devouring only half of one, and not good at clearing away after himself

I don't consider killing them to be cruel, so long as they die humanely, but then I take part in falconry and go hunting with the birds.

I'm tempted to get one of my friend's hawks to fly over to scare them off.

I'll try the super soaker first before trying any lethal methods but if it works I'll be very surprised, if it keeps up they have to die.

I did consider an airgun Effie but unfortunately I'm much too close to our neighbour's homes to make use of it, or I'd be buying one first thing tomorrow.

oh no, I love woodpigeons. Have helped parent woodpigeons with their babies when they have fallen from the nest a few times. They are good parents and I love to hear them cooing to their young

I'd be a bit shit with a catapult, can't aim straight (and no-one in their right mind would consider handing me an airgun). Supersoaker sounds like a good Plan A. Or get a few more killer cats

falcon, your name shoulda clued me in lol

It's prob because they're nesting at the moment. IMO it would be cruel to kill them even 'humanely' because you risk any chicks they may have in a nest then starving to death slowly. And that would be cruel.

I want a catapult to scare off the green parakeets of Surrey and SW London. Am thinking of getting the dc to make me one. I thought I could fire papier mache balls or some such.

What about a peashooter?

I think these are probably juvenile,well relatively so, non breeding magpies, those are ones who tend to hang around in flocks as these are doing, not pairs.

www.peashooters.org/index1.htm

Those look good Effie, I wonder how effective they'd be against magpies with the right ammo? I intend to find out.

I can imagine they are being quite a nuisance, and I sympathise. But they are such striking, beautiful birds. It always makes me sad that so many people want to kil them. Their population has not increased since the 1990s, and apparently it isn't legal to kill them except for the following reasons:

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

They are beautiful I agree, and I rather enjoyed watching them before this.

It's just this particular flock I want to get rid of, once they're gone I'd have no objections to other, well behaved, magpies in my garden.

Where we are they are still fairly uncommon. Our resident nuisances are housemartins and jackdaws.

My DS2 has a catapauly btw. I'll send him over. (He is only allowed to fire aniseed balls and paint pellets though.)

We had a wood pigeon nest in our Hawthorn, watched them build it and we could see 2 babies there for a few weeks. Then found them both dead under the tree after they had been attacked by magpies

This sounds a bit weird, but it does work for magpies - get two fairly solid sticks of wood and bash them together quickly to make a clacking noise (bit like a magpie's annoying noise) - apparently it sounds like a bigger bird than them and should scare them off! It does work on ours - used to have awful problems with magpies chasing our cats.