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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 1203940" data-attributes="member: 12449">They are merely successful in the current environment, it does not follow that they responsible for declines in other species. What is an 'artifically high' population? Given that the UK is almost entirely a human-created environment, it could equally be argued that almost all species are at artificial levels, either too high or too low. On the same line of thought, the Grey Partridge population, though significantly down on 30 years ago, could also still be considered artificially high - if humans had not cleared the original woodland that covered much of the UK, I guess the Grey Partridge would be in numbers lower than today. If Magpies are not impacting on populations of other species, and the evidence backs this, then (from conservationists perspective) so what if there are more than 30 years ago?</blockquote>