On 06/09/2024 at 19:47, Nick Thomas said:

How's the fake peregrine falcon going, @Adsibob?

I think it does work but you have to move it around regularly, like at least once every day, otherwise it doesn’t seem to work. I can’t be sure it works to be honest. Certainly did initially, then the pigeons may have got used to it. I think there has to be a better solution. Maybe there is a way to automate the drone so that it launches and does a pre-recorded flight path every time there is a pigeon sensed by a separate but linked sensor?

 

 Alternatively, feeding them bird food laced with cyanide?

Edited September 8, 20242 yr by Adsibob

On 03/03/2024 at 16:58, Nick Thomas said:

https://merlinenvironmental.co.uk/blog/pests/birds/can-you-shoot-pigeons-in-the-uk/ goes into a bit more detail. It's fine as long as you've tried non-lethal methods first and they've failed, and you also stick to all the rules governing air weapons (like not shooting beyond the property boundary).

 Are pigeons regarded as vermin like Corvids? If so then i see no problem with what is advocated here. 

Non lethal first, tell them to F*** off, shoot them when they dont.

29 minutes ago, Post and beam said:

 Are pigeons regarded as vermin like Corvids? If so then i see no problem with what is advocated here. 

Non lethal first, tell them to F*** off, shoot them when they dont.

 

You are allowed to shoot them in order to protect crops

 

Obviously if they are ringed you might have a problem one round us is ringed but he clearly hasn't found his way home - he's also bloody smart for a pigeon........

19 minutes ago, Post and beam said:

 Are pigeons regarded as vermin like Corvids?

 

Yes.

They can be remarkably stupid. Put some food down (where rats can't get at it) and put some old ply down behind the food (overshoot protection) . If you want, paint the wood white - easier to tell where the sight reticle is pointing.

This is the time of year when Rattus Norvegicus starts to think about keeping warm on your dollar. Consider smearing peanut butter on the ground (makes the rat sit still for a second or two) and the pigeons will have a go at that too.

Suggest heart and lungs shot for pigeons - head for rats. No more than 20 meters range.

 

One of our two youngest tomcats is brilliant at keeping them down; 't other sleeps most of every day.

2 hours ago, marshian said:

if they are ringed you might have a problem

Where i work we have a resident Peregrine. She seems to favour Pigeons on their way home from a race. They dont know the local area so aren't aware of what lies in wait. Funnily enough the Peregrine does not care whether they are ringer or not. I guess they taste the same.

32 minutes ago, Post and beam said:

Where i work we have a resident Peregrine. She seems to favour Pigeons on their way home from a race. They dont know the local area so aren't aware of what lies in wait. Funnily enough the Peregrine does not care whether they are ringer or not. I guess they taste the same.

 

We had a local sparrowhawk or kestral do us a small favour last year - swept in grabbed a young one straight off the patio and then flew out - I know that one wasn't ringed either.

 

The other youngster flew into a patio door and that was its last attempt at flight - also saved me a pellet

1 hour ago, Post and beam said:

....Funnily enough the Peregrine does not care whether they are ringer or not. I guess they taste the same.

 

I had a neighbour who did a lot of climbing up here in the Lake District. Several of his climbs in Sadgill and the South Lakes had (have?) Peregrines nesting there.

He told me - straight-faced - that the only part of a pigeon that Peregrines don't eat is the ring on its foot. Hence the little piles of rings near the nest. 

 

I told him - equally straight faced - to weigh the rings in. And then we went for a pint.

off of the OP's topic of course but the ground around the site of our peregrine is littered with heads, wings and feet. They are quickly hollowed out and thrown off of the ledge.

 

It is because they are such good pigeon killers that Churchill ordered all Peregrines to be destroyed during the last big unpleasantness.