Starling Problem

[Charlieh]

Be careful what you read on the net, in the last revisions (2008) starling were granted open general license but only in Scotland and Ireland, it isnt applicable in England, therefore trapping and shooting is an offence, I dont know how you stand on disturbance

 

Table 1. Bird species covered by relevant general licences

Canada goose1

Jackdaw

Magpie

Rook

Carrion crow

Starling3

Woodpigeon

Feral pigeon

Collared dove2

Jay2

Lesser blackbacked

gull

Great black-backed gull

Herring gull

House sparrow3

 

1 England only.

2 Not applicable in Northern Ireland.

3 Not applicable in England

 

 

"In carrying out your activity your prime objective must meet at least one of

the criteria for which the relevant licence is issued, such as: conserving wild

birds, prevention and spread of disease, prevention of serious damage to

livestock, food-stuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber,

fisheries or inland waters, preserving public health or public safety and

preserving air safety."

 

therefore, you would have to prove the general license was being use for preserving pulic health, dont think pooping on cars is valid reason (above info is available from basc)

 

also found this snippet from the telegraph online

 

"Volunteers from the Italian League for the Protection of Birds are using recordings of the starlings' distress call, amplified hundreds of times, to scare the flocks away and protect Rome's centuries-old statues, fountains and buildings from their noxious guano.

 

The sound of the distress call has been likened to a cross between fingernails dragging down a blackboard and the opening of a rusty barn door.

 

"We use a different cry each day," said Giovanni Albarella, coordinator of the league's starling squad. "It's all about fooling them. The trick is to make them think they are in danger."

[Rich Rule]

dean,

 

the program (Swarms or some other name)the other day had the flock roosting in rome. Millions of starlings roosting in the trees producing upto 7 tonnes of mess each night.

 

they got around it by having a team go in on a night after they had roosted and play the sounds of alarmed starlings through a loudspeaker. Maybe you could use some form of hunting decoy and do a bit of rewiring so the sounds go off just after they roost. they seemed to move of to another roost sharpish. would need to look into it more to see if would work as a permanent measure but enviro friendly...

[Dean Lofthouse]

they got around it by having a team go in on a night after they had roosted and play the sounds of alarmed starlings through a loudspeaker. Maybe you could use some form of hunting decoy and do a bit of rewiring so the sounds go off just after they roost. they seemed to move of to another roost sharpish. would need to look into it more to see if would work as a permanent measure but enviro friendly...

 

Just looking into that exact thing now Rich, seems to be a lot about though. The company bought an electronic one a while back but never installed it. They're going to give me the model numbers etc so I can research it for them to find out whether it is audible or not and whther it's going to be neighbour freindly.

 

In the mean time we are going to top and trim all the conifer to reduce roost cover, a task on it's own and they're absolutely lifting in bird crap as you can imagine