The drone crackdown: if a trained eagle can't stop them, what will?

Authorities scramble to find ways to tackle drones as Gatwick shutdown highlights lack of progress

From computer programming and guns that fire giant nets to well-trained birds of prey, previous attempts to stop the rogue use of consumer drones have been nothing if not original.

But for all that creativity, the authorities have been left behind. And on Thursday, as an unknown operator succeeded in shutting down Gatwick airport for at least 18 hours by flying drones around the airport's protected airspace, the slow pace of progress was highlighted again.