2 rooks and a magpie.

[Sunna]

out walking yesterday i spotted these birds in a large round cage and today they were their again , thet have food [looked like dry dog food] and water.
the area they are in is remote on alocal flood plain to me.
somebody must be makeing some big effort to feed and water them.

all i want to know is why , any ideas ...?

i was told once that farmers put them in traps to catch mink...?
this true.

[Steve]

They will be "call" birds, used to attract more birds into a trap.

[Sunna]

if you dont mind, why would you trap them ...?

[Scythe13]

Pest control mate.

I was going to say about Call Birds.

Think of it as decoys that are real. Years ago, farmers and hunters used to tether birds for this exact reason, but they has been outlawed. They can be kept in a cage now, providing the cage has enough room for the birds to fully stretch out their wings.

They attract other pest birds, in this example other rooks and magpies, and when the other birds come and land....bang, dead!

[MaryN]

I may be wrong, but I think it is illegal to kill magpies unless you have a licence to do so. They are certainly protected under the Wildlife Act.

[Devonian]

I'm sure S13 will correct me if I'm wrong, but Magpies, like Pigeons, Crow, Rooks etc are covered by the General Licence and can be shot/killed (by the land owner or someone authorised on their behalf) if they are considered to be causing damage or disease etc

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/...-24149.pdf

[Scythe13]

MaryN, you're thinking of Ravens with that. You are not able to legally shoot Ravens without a license. Magpies, as DEV said, Magpies are open under the rules of the General License.

[Midnitemo]

you sure it wasn't a Larsen trap...steel cage with two compartments...live bird calls the targets in , one gets dispatched and the healthier of the two is kept to lure the next victim and so on and so on.

[Sunna]

it was roughly 2ft hi 3ft across with 3 compartments each with a rectangle steel door and a door on top.
i did look to see if it was a trap or traps were layed around it but i could not see anything.

[Scythe13]

Call birds then mate.