Is it legal to shoot these pests with an air rifle in my own private garden as they destroy my food crops and plants?

J

Not anymore, you have to get government ok now! Common sense isn't very common.
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2007 Land Rover Freelander2 I6 hse Auto

I think you can shoot wood pigeons on your own property.

https://basc.org.uk/gl/ MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

NO and you can thank the likes of Chris Packham and Co.
Dave DAVE.
I.A.M. F1rst Driver.
Gone 2003 Discovery TD5 Auto,
Gone 1986 Defender 90 Station Wagon
Gone 1984 Range Rover 3.5 Vogue Manual.
Gone 1970 Series 11A/3 SWB 3.5 V8 Hybrid
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Van
Gone 1966 Series 11A SWB Van
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Station Wagon,

Reading GL31 - general licence to kill woodpigeons, then you can shoot them if they are causing "serious damage" to crops that would cause you financial implications. Ie if they are eating your dahlias then tough, but if they are eating your strawberries that you "may" intend to sell then it is fine.

From GL31 -
“Serious damage” is damage to an economic or financial interest that exceeds mere nuisance, minor damage or normal business risk4.
There is clear evidence that woodpigeons cause serious damage to a range of vulnerable growing crops. For the purpose of this licence, there is considered to be potential for “serious damage” in the absence of licensed action where pigeons are feeding on one or more of the following crops:
 Oilseed rape
 Cabbages, Brussels sprouts and other brassicas
 Beans/Peas
 Cereals
 Linseed
 Newly sown grass/clover
 Sugar beet
 Salad crops
 Any other vegetables
 Any fruit

But you cannot just kill them because they are a nuisance Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

It's about time Cormorants, Goosanders and Mergansers were put on the general licence. They are contributing to the serious decline in Atlantic Salmon in our rivers. The Cormorants are costing sport fisheries thousands of pounds each year and it is very difficult to get the EA to issue a kill licence and even if they do it's for a very small number. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

years and years ago (about 35 years) we suddenly had about 10 pigeons invade our garden. They were a total nuisance in every way, with noise, fighting over females, and even dive bombing us and the dog on some occasions as well as destroying plants and flowers. They scared every other bird off and any that nested in our garden for years had their nests destroyed and eggs or young were destroyed one way or another.
Council weren't interested and neither were RSPCA.
So we built a cage trap and managed to catch over half of them in one go (basically they are very dumb birds) and our neighbour, who was a long distance HGV driver took them way up north and released them... only for them to follow the crow in a straight line back to us.
Eventually we borrowed a couple of air rifles from our army cadets and shot them in our garden. And all the other wildlife recovered. Chris Packham would have been proud

to me, wood pigeons are like grey squirrels... fine when its just 1 or 2 but when they impact everything around them then they are vermin and can be shot (so long as its safe and humane to do so)

Basically you can not legally shoot wood pigeons in your domestic garden because they are eating strawberries . Even if you claimed they were a cash crop strawberries could be simply protected by netting in a garden environment , so you’d fall foul of the first principles of the general licenses that shooting is the method of last resort after other reasonable methods of crop protection been tried and have failed. You also have to bear in mind that if you shoot it with an air rifle , and fail to kill it outright , and can’t recover it to despatch it , you can end up in a world of grief . All it takes is one nosey neighbour . We’ve got issues with people who don’t understand there is a legal obligation to control rabbits on your own land . There are so many bunny huggers and furloughed well wishers wandering around with binos and cameras we ring 101 and let them know where and when we are out with guns a) to save the local plod wasting time b) to save us being on the wrong end of a Sig Assault rifle being wielded by an armed response unit called out by a) above !

Now whether the above comments will stop you ...... 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I was told that grain laced with alcohol makes them easy to catch. Never tied it though.

From what Ive seen, pigeons are remarkably resistant to .22 air rifles - bodies well padded with small heads that wont keep still. Jules

Thanks everyone, a wealth of information here to consider. Guess I will have to find a novel method.

Does anyone know if it is legal to shoot Chris Packams in your own garden?


J

With an air rifle - no

shotgun, in the front, if you say he was threatening to kill you and you placed a weapon in his dead hand, then you would probably be knighted. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I shoot them. My neighbour eats them.  Derek Hill
2009 FL2 HSE TD4 Auto

I think that you probably need to set up some small targets in the garden so that you can practice your aim, which of course will be so bad that regrettably the pigeons will inevitably ending up being collateral damage...