I agree with Geoff here, the scenario I witnessed 20yrs ago was extremely distressing and put me off going to the Flashes for some time.

However, at the time the area around Woolston Eyes, the Sankey Valley Park and the area outside of the power station compound at Fiddlers Ferry often produced air rifle yobs too.

I have been shot at near Gullivers World theme park, and my father was hit in the leg by a pellet on the canal towpath at Fiddlers Ferry.

The air gun brigade are much more discreet nowadays, possibly becouse virtually everyone that sees them as access to a mobile phone, and thus the police can be there within minutes.

Also there have been some high profile horrendous incidents where children have badly injured by pellets, so the law as tightened regarding air gun use.

I also think parents are much less likely to buy teenagers air rifles now as presents, and many youngsters find it much more fun to shoot targets at home via a games console.

In recent years I've enjoyed many hours wandering around Wigan Flashes, although I'll admit I rarely stray from the towpath, and I have not witnessed any illicit shooting.

Mike Passant wrote:

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However as regards the Wigan Flashes, as the man on the spot Geoff's perspective on this adds much. The situation here appears to be nowhere near as dire as at first glance?

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No where near (well said Geoff)! Bring back the longer daylight so we can actually get out into our wonderful county and do more birding

John makes some good points below, (though as regards Siberia, Uncle Joe had the same solution, it was called Gulag and did become somewhat over-used in terms of who got sent there).
By reference to the education system earlier, I meant the upbringing environment/system as a whole, including the positive influence (or otherwise) of parents.
Sadly, some (generally all) of of the offending yobs don't actually possess the insight to realise they have already won life's lottery just by being accidentally born into an advanced Western European liberal democracy with all the freedoms and limitless opportunities kids in most African and many middle eastern countries cannot but dream of.
The media has much to answer for, as also touched upon by John, through the full spectrum of violence on show, the nonsense cult of so called "celebrity" all the way to dumbing down to the lowest common denominator.
However as regards the Wigan Flashes, as the man on the spot Geoff's perspective on this adds much. The situation here appears to be nowhere near as dire as at first glance?

As a regular on the Flashes and just to quell the fire,the ducks probably flew into the power lines,a regular sad event.There is a small wood opposite Horrocks Flash that is hired out for war games and an area opposite Bryn Marsh that is used as a 4X4 track and some air rifle use,the local landowner has guns in regularly to cull the pigeons.All of this is legal but does give rise to lots of gossip on the canal bank.Of the many hours I,ve spent on the Flashes in the last 8 years I,ve only had two air rifle events and on both occasions I have informed the offender that I would call the police and the rifle has been quickly covered up and I,ve never seen them again.It,s a little unfair to refer to events 20 years ago an era that also spawned the car radio theft legacy.Maybe I,m wrong but the Flashes suffer no more or less than other areas from anti-social behaviour.And just in case, the East Europeans trapping swans for dinner rumor is just that.

cheers geoff

I'd say it's neither the education system nor (broadly) the parents' faults - we've got to look at it that people are responsible for their own actions, end of story. Most scumbag thick-as-two-short plank kids who will grow up to be scumbag thick-as-two-short-planks men should give their right arm to be at the table of this country have little or probably no connection with their fathers and nothing near a relationship with their mothers - we can't keep making excuses and legislating for people who don't deserve nature and have opted out of society. I can't believe that a parent would consciously endorse giving a gun to little Johnny and saying: "Right, go for it" but OF COURSE inadequate parenting, of which societies like Japan would never allow, can inadvertently lead to such deplorable actions.

For certain, I'll tell you why it's not the education system, because most of this no-marks don't give two hoots either way - it's not the job of the education system to instil human compassion into somebody, it should be there as a rule or we should be very very afraid - and it's obviously not here and we are angry. They should swap places with the people who are risking their lives for an education, or walking 15 miles in sweltering heat to get even a basic education. I get hung up on the fact that no matter what outside agents do for these people, no matter what approach it takes, they own their own emotions and are in charge of their own actions. This might sound like anarchic even drunken or mad ranting, but I mean every word!

SO the solution?
Genuinely, if I was at the helm, I'd have a big penal colony set up in Siberia or a very remote, unforgiving part of the world - it doesn't matter where because the punishment will be the same, it might as well be Greenland for all I care, and release will not be determinate and only achieved when all a certain criteria is met.

This is no sideswipe at any individual's view in the thread by any means, of course.

You've got me started now - it's not the education system that 'fails to teach respect', it's parents who give their kids too much money so they can buy drink and airguns and who don't know where they and what they get up to, as well as the wider society who allow them to watch films and play video games about murder, rape, theft and violence. Just look at what's on TV every night and what's in the media in general - it's no wonder so many of today's youth have no morals or respect.

It's really easy to get depressed about the depths to which human scum can sink, and mindless cruelty makes my blood boil more than ever, (as much as anything out of sheer frustration). It still surprises me that the education system still fails across a broad spectrum to instill basic respect for other creatures into a sizeable minority of our kids.
However, with mobiles and digital cameras it's rather easy now to get photographic evidence from some distance of perpetrators/offenders without getting involved directly and to call the police, who are generally inclined to be pleasingly responsive where yobs with guns in public places are concerned.

I noticed a couple of duck corpses in the pool nearest to the railway at Horrocks Flash, maybe natural mortality, but I had a feeling they may have shot, one looked like a male Shoveler.

On chatting to a few local dog walkers and nature lovers they told me there as been quite a problem with yobs with air guns in the area recently.

One Mute Swan seemed to have facial injuries. Apparently the problem is worse after dark.

When I first visited this area 20+years ago yobs with air rifles were shooting at swans whilst a lady and her young daughter were feeding them, they even shot at my dog.

All this was in broad daylight and the yobs dared you to challenge them, but this was before we all carried mobile phones.

I was'nt aware there was still a real problem with shooters, but apparently there is.