Songbird decline

[wanlock dod]

On a relatively recent edition of Countryfile there was the suggestion that magpies have been causing a considerable decline in songbirds. This seemed to be based on the observation that there are lots of magpies about, and that they will eat smaller birds. They seemed to be challenging the assertion on the programme.

I have no real knowledge of how magpies feed, but was a little surprised that they might be hunting smaller birds preferentially, although opportunistic predation would seem likely (like crows and such like).

I can't help feeling that for small birds, for whom a significant portion of the diet might be insects, the availability of food might be a more important factor than predation. Given the quantities of insecticides that are often used in agriculture might this not be a more obvious cause?

The cynic in me can't help but feel that the tale of magpies being primarially responsible for songbird declines was probably started by parties with a vested interest in maintianing pesticide use.

Whilst I doubt that anybody really knows the truth, surely there is more to it than lots of magpies. Can anybody enlighten me please?

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by wanlock dod

The cynic in me can't help but feel that the tale of magpies being primarially responsible for songbird declines was probably started by parties with a vested interest in maintianing pesticide use.?

More likely shooting interests! The decline in British songbirds is a wide and varied subject ranging from habitat loss, agricultural changes, changes in wintering grounds abroad, shooting on migration etc, etc. You could take your pick and blame the entire decline on that, such as the magpies blamed by some so-called conservation bodies. Yes corvids eat nestlings but so do other species, notably Great Spotted Woodpeckers that will go through nest boxes to get to the tit chicks. I've seen it happen through a nest-cam in one of the boxes at Bedfont Lakes.

Cheers,

Adam

[rossy]

if you go back through the pages on the forum you will find plenty of debates on this subject, hope they will help you. rossy.

[forestwildlife]

Everyone likes to have a bad guy and in this case its the magpie. As Adam says the reason for song bird decline is wide ranging from habitat loss, changes to agricultural practices etc etc.

The balance of nature is such that with the decline in a prey species the effect on the predator is also to see a decline in its population. The only predator which I can see having any effect on the population of a species (in this context) is the cat, their diet is supplemented by us so they aren't going to feel any effects of declining prey species that say a magpie or BOP would feel.

I don't want to get into the argument over cats effects on wildlife but feel as though the magpie is being unjustly blamed, probably by people who wish to shoot them.