Crow in a trap (1 Viewer)

[Woody]

Not sure if this is the right place but here goes anyway.

I spotted this on the RSPB reserve at Elmley. I'm not a sloppy, sentimental type, but is this common practice on RSPB land?

To the left of the pic is a GBBG(?) checking out the captive.

Woody

 

[hil5]

Possibly meant to be a rat trap?

 

[Woody]

Possibly meant to be a rat trap?

Could be I suppose. I'm not any kind of expert on traps but wouldn't it be a bit overkill for rats? I'd have thought rats would have been trapped in a slightly more 'final' way?

Woody

 

[Capercaillie71]

It could be a crow trap, but it's a lot smaller than the ones in common usage in this part of the world (see below).

I'd be surprised if the RSPB used traps like this on their own reserves. Certainly on their Abernethy Forest reserve, where crow control is a routine aspect of management, they tend to shoot crows rather than trap them.

 

[Woody]

It could be a crow trap, but it's a lot smaller than the ones in common usage in this part of the world (see below).

I'd be surprised if the RSPB used traps like this on their own reserves. Certainly on their Abernethy Forest reserve, where crow control is a routine aspect of management, they tend to shoot crows rather than trap them.

Blimey! That's not a small trap!

Is trapping not a bit indiscriminate then? If the crows or whatever are in sufficient numbers to cause problems, surely shooting is the most effective way of ensuring the right species is controlled?

Woody

 

[Capercaillie71]

Is trapping not a bit indiscriminate then?

Yes, but of course the trap should be checked every 24 hours and non-target species should be released unharmed.

surely shooting is the most effective way of ensuring the right species is controlled?

My understanding is that at Abernethy the RSPB shoot crows by finding their nests and shooting straight up through the nest from underneath. This requires quite a bit of effort to find the nests and then to observe it to make sure it is being used by crows (and not LE owls or merlins or whatever). The trap in my photo contains a decoy bird, which can draw in crows from the surrounding area with limited effort by the gamekeeper.

Personally I'm not too keen on cage traps, but they are legal if used properly and I can understand why they are used. However, it is questionable whether the trap in my photo provides adequate shelter for the decoy bird as is required by law.

 

[Pluvius]

Larsen Traps an efficient method of catching corvids particularly magpies especially if you can get the first one to use as your bait.

 

[saluki]

Not sure if this is the right place but here goes anyway.

I spotted this on the RSPB reserve at Elmley. I'm not a sloppy, sentimental type, but is this common practice on RSPB land?

To the left of the pic is a GBBG(?) checking out the captive.

Woody

I think it's a cat trap Woody. The crow's not a decoy bird - just a greedy begger that's entered the trap!

Jonathan

 

[julian62]

Can I Know ?

Can I Know which is the reason of all this?
Why to control the population of the crows? |8.|

Thank's in advance and excused my bad English.

 

[KC Foggin]

I think Jonathan hit the nail on the head. This is just like a lot of cat traps we use and I think the crow decided the food looked good. I do hope someone released it by now.

 

[griffin]

Looks like a portable Larsen. Have seen ones just like it on an Estate in Deeside. They are used for catching crows and are perfectly legal if the conditions as to their use are honoured.

They tend to be placed on open ground and crow flight paths. Not sure cats would be caught on such open areas ?

As I understand it the RSPB do control crow numbers in an effort to preserve Black Grouse and Capercaillie numbers.

 

[Capercaillie71]

Can I Know which is the reason of all this?
Why to control the population of the crows? |8.|

The reason is that the populations of many of the bird species that breed on reserves are small enough that predation (particularly egg predation) by crows can become a significant source of mortality for species that are already under pressure due to lack of habitat.

As Griffin says, Black Grouse and Capercaillie have a particular problem. The forests that they live in are very fragmeneted and surrounded by farmland and other habitats that can support much higher populations of crows than you would normally find in forests. Likewise many wetland reserves are surrounded by farmland and small woods that provide an ideal habitat for crows that then predate the eggs of species like lapwings and other waders.

Crow control would not be necessary if we had very large areas of continuous habitat for these high priority species, but we don't so unfortunately crow control remains a necessary evil.

 

[Woody]

Looks like a portable Larsen. Have seen ones just like it on an Estate in Deeside. They are used for catching crows and are perfectly legal if the conditions as to their use are honoured.

They tend to be placed on open ground and crow flight paths. Not sure cats would be caught on such open areas ?

As I understand it the RSPB do control crow numbers in an effort to preserve Black Grouse and Capercaillie numbers.

Couldn't work it out myself. Elmley is a big area, there is a farm and a couple of houses at the entrance along with a few houses around the car park. I know that some of these households have cats but I wouldn't have thought that the numbers of cats was anywhere near to being threatening. Likewise crows really. The thought had occured to me that perhaps there is a sensitive ground breeder in the vicinity and maybe the trap is just an effort to protect one, specific pair?

Woody

 

[saluki]

Couldn't work it out myself. Elmley is a big area, there is a farm and a couple of houses at the entrance along with a few houses around the car park. I know that some of these households have cats but I wouldn't have thought that the numbers of cats was anywhere near to being threatening. Likewise crows really. The thought had occured to me that perhaps there is a sensitive ground breeder in the vicinity and maybe the trap is just an effort to protect one, specific pair?

Woody

This is a twin entry Larsen:

http://www.trapman.co.uk/corvid-trap.htm

This is a cat trap:

http://www.ohlonehumanesociety.org/trap.jpg

Still looks like a cat trap to me, one relies on a treadle plate, the other a hinged perch to set the trap off. It's possible either trap could catch a crow or a cat! I'd agree it's an odd place to put a cat trap - though it's odd the RSPB left any trap where the public could see it . . .

Jonathan

 

[griffin]

The bird looks like it is sitting on a perch to me ?

 

[Woody]

The bird looks like it is sitting on a perch to me ?

Maybe. He was jumping about from side of the trap to the other.

Woody

 

[Keith Glasgow]

It seems to be a rabbit/fox/mink type of trap - both doors are down.

I borrowed a photo from trapmans site;

thanks,
Zek.

 

[bitterntwisted]

Notwithstanding Capercaillie's succinct explanation of the unfortunate necessity of controlling crows on reserves, given the location I suspect Zek's right that this is a mink trap.

Graham

 

[Ian Latham]

Catch 22

Its a Stoat Trap. The user traps a bird (crow, pheasant, any bird will do. I have seen Kestrels, Buzzards and have even a Peregrine littering the bottom of these cages of death) and then they mame the bird (a straight edged leg clamp generally causes the bird to slowly peck its own leg off) the distressed bird will attract a stoat from some distance. The user of the trap will generally keep or sell the stoat to send down rabbit burrows.

They are one of many such devices used by Land owners to accompany their interests in blood sports. Most of these traps can be found wherever a sign says PRIVATE and are perfectly legal.

Who do you complain to? Nobody!...the Land owner is probably a Magistrate or higher.

CATCH 22

 

[Woody]

Its a Stoat Trap. The user traps a bird (crow, pheasant, any bird will do. I have seen Kestrels, Buzzards and have even a Peregrine littering the bottom of these cages of death) and then they mame the bird (a straight edged leg clamp generally causes the bird to slowly peck its own leg off) the distressed bird will attract a stoat from some distance. The user of the trap will generally keep or sell the stoat to send down rabbit burrows.

They are one of many such devices used by Land owners to accompany their interests in blood sports. Most of these traps can be found wherever a sign says PRIVATE and are perfectly legal.

Who do you complain to? Nobody!...the Land owner is probably a Magistrate or higher.

CATCH 22

The crow in the trap seemed unharmed, but it was a long way off. If this particular trap is what you suggest then I would be very surprised indeed to find it on an RSPB reserve. All still a bit of a mystery really.

Woody