The trouble with farmland magpies. And grey squirrels. Oh yes, and mink, too. The lament of an East Midlands farmer.

Lord Robathan - curlews are now seldom seen on his farm

 
 

During a debate last week in the House of Lords, the focus fell on the impact of predators on vulnerable species such as curlews and kingfishers. Among those who contributed was Leicestershire-based Lord Robathan, formerly an Army major, then a Conservative MP, but now a farmer. Below is an extract from his speech.  

When I bought my farm 20-odd years ago, we used to have curlews there every year. 

It was magnificent to have them on a lowland farm in the East Midlands.

However, now we almost never see them. The reason is probably not foxes or badgers, because we do not see that many of them, but corvids.

Noble Lords may not know that you need a licence to show that you are allowed to shoot or control corvids. 

Magpies are very clever birds. If noble Lords watch them over the next couple of months, they will see them working their way down a hedge, poking their heads in and looking for nesting birds. 

When they find a nesting bird, they destroy it. 

Each magpie is probably responsible for the destruction of 10 nests, but I do not know as I have not studied it closely enough. 

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, you need a licence.

There is a general licence, but you need to be able to prove that the magpies or crows are causing damage. What is the point of that? 

Mink have devastated our riverbanks - not just the water voles, although they are particularly obvious, but species such as kingfishers, because they can get into their nests, whereas otters, for example, cannot. 

As for grey squirrels, I plant a lot of trees, and, in one wood, a third of the trees have been killed by grey squirrels. 

I trap them. This is legal, I am glad to say; otherwise, I probably would not tell noble Lords. 

I have caught 14 in traps since Christmas Day and I am catching them all of the time. 

However, there are still hundreds left. They do so much damage.

There are people who challenge the trapping. 

We must reduce the number of them if the Government’s ambition to plant more trees is to be realised.

There is a policy move to introduce a contraceptive, which will be useful only for male grey squirrels. I hope that works.

Public sensitivity about killing squirrels is also an issue. 

I would also say there is some stupidity among the public. 

If noble Lords do not believe me, they should take their dog for a walk in the park and see what happens if it kills a squirrel in front of a lot of other people.

My real point in this is that there is concern and confusion over general licences and what one can and cannot do. 

They were all stopped and then restarted in the last couple of years. 

We do not need endless regulations and laws to do what is right and humane. 

Some people will behave badly with or without laws and regulations. 

We could do with less regulation on the control of destructive species as well as on tree planting and agriculture as a whole.

                                            

Magpies on the prowl