"Oz" wrote in message
...
Thur writes

sparrowhawks (another post)
Predators may lower the population if they recover themselves from
population losses such as the agro-chemicals combined with
gamekeeper slaughter.

Apart from raptors, and then many years ago, I haven't heard of
gamekeepers shooting birds other than some corvids.

Shooting crows/pigeons was once the only shooting allowed to
farmworkers, which kept populations down 30 years ago.

Nowadays they're allowed to shoot clay pigeons, and I haven't seen any of
those near our bird feeders for ages. Well, ever really.

Steve