http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/blog/2009/04/21/474/ Advancing ecology and making it count Mon, 20 May 2013 14:42:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/blog/2009/04/21/474/#comment-598 Dave Austin Wed, 06 May 2009 08:44:02 +0000 http://britishecologicalsociety.org/blog/?p=473#comment-598 Over thge last 2 – 3 years in the Sheffield S10 and S11 districts ( a heavily wooded area between the city and the Peak District ) there has been a very noticeable drop in the general population of birds, especially blue, great and coal tits and grey wagtails. Around 6 years ago the area was teaming with magpies (I counted over twenty in one tree alone at that time).
The magpie population has dropped along with the rest of the bird population until last summer there was one young pair only in the immediate area. Having once been an enemy to the magpie, I took it upon myself to feed this pair (with dry cat food) and watched them bring up two young (of which there is now no sign). The pair have nested again this year and still visit my feeding station several times a day. I’m looking forward to seeing their offspring later in the summer and think it would be a great shame if magpies were to be targeted for a cull when they appear to be suffering equally along with other species.

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