The petition to reduce the use of bird deterrent spikes on buildings in the UK has zoomed past 33,000 signatures. All thanks to kind people like you!
You are invited to join the Rooftop Bird Club; a Facebook group inspired by the support for this petition support. More later…
This week I was pleased to send a request to Julie James MS of the Welsh Government for a first meeting about bird deterrents. I’ll share what I put in my letter below.
Please sign and share the petition with your friends or on social media so it will be one of the most popular petitions in the UK. The petition link is below.
#Nature #birds #NoToBirdDeterrents #JustWhoisTrespassing #LetTheBirdsFly
Stopping the death or injury of birds on roofs is important
I recently saw a poor Herring Gull dangling dead from a roof top caught by a strip of spiked bird deterrents. I questioned why is it we don’t value our roof top birds more. That’s why I started the petition.
I've asked to meet Julie James MS of the Welsh Government. Julie James MS is my local member of the Senedd and also Minister of Climate Change in Wales.
You are cordially invited to you to join the Rooftop Bird Club group…
The Rooftop Bird Club
The Rooftop Bird Club Facebook group is a place to celebrate the birds and other wildlife that visit or make homes on our houses and buildings. It’s a place to show respect for the wildlife around us, at home or work.
It’s a group to post stories, poems and pictures of wildlife that raises our spirits and demonstrates the wonder of nature; that touches us, even in the heart of the city or our rural buildings. Importantly, it’s also a place to record both the successes of nature’s colonisation of the spaces we have chosen to occupy (birds nesting/perching/visiting) and sometimes the downsides where nature is threatened by the actions people or companies take that cause suffering or death to wildlife.
Please join the group to celebrate, question and respect the relationship we have with the nature and wildlife living on our buildings.
Welcome to the Rooftop Bird Club! The view from here is pretty magnificent!
Please post wild and wonderful nature you like. Also please kindly help record birds (anecdotally or with photos) that are hurt or killed by bird deterrents.
NB: Please seek help from vets or animal hospitals for any injured wildlife in distress.
Please help by signing and sharing the petition with your friends or on social media to get it landing safely. #Nature #birds #NoToBirdDeterrents #JustWhoisTrespassing #LetTheBirdsFly
My request to Julie James MS
I asked Julie James MS to discuss positive solutions that can be put in place in Wales to actively reduce the use of bird deterrents on buildings to protect birds and biodiversity.
I emphasized the phenomenal support for the petition and mentioned that supporters have commented how inhumane, cruel and lingering the deaths from bird deterrent measures are. Together we are calling for change in the way we approach our relationship with birds and biodiversity in the places we live and work.
I explained I have seen dead birds on roofs that have been netted or have bird deterrent strips with angled spikes. On behalf of people like you I wrote that together we demand change in Wales (to begin with – the whole of the UK next), particularly as some of these bird species are red listed as endangered and affected by climate change.
I referred to the recent report from leading climate and biodiversity experts (the IPCC and the IPBES) which made clear the interconnectedness of biodiversity and the climate emergency. As Norway’s Climate and Environment minister; Sveinung Rotevatn said about the two crises ‘we either solve both or neither.’ The report suggests a number of actions. One action was that every small and helpful thing we do will contribute to mitigate against the two crises.
The report noted that ‘every local nature-based biodiversity solution in our cities and towns matter as they accumulate together on a global level. Positive social tipping interventions such as changing public and industry behaviours, social norms or engaging civil society in co-designing and implementing plans and strategies across sectors will lead to socio-ecological resilience. In other words our future partly depends on small adjustments.
Finally I asked to meet with Julie James MS to discuss ideas to reduce the use of such bird deterrents.
So watch this space!
Let’s welcome and encourage birds to our roofs rather than try to deter them. Ways forward can be identified with community engagement & improved care to offer better solutions that respect nature.
In the face of the joint crises of climate and biodiversity let's decide that killing or injuring of roof top dwelling birds can and should wherever possible be avoided. Please join the campaign to ensure that installation of bird deterrents including bird spikes & netting is used only in extreme circumstances, at the right time & is of the most appropriate design.
This week's beautiful update photo is thanks to Ryan Skjerven on Unsplash.
Build Back Greener
Building back should be about welcoming feathered biodiversity to the roofs of our homes and offices with enhanced education, reducing the use of bird deterrents, better pest control operator licensing, appropriate planning controls & better funding for wildlife crime teams and prosecution.
This petition calls upon the Welsh and UK Governments to urgently review & take steps to stop the killing and injuring of birds across the U.K. due to the use of bird deterrents.
4 things you can also do to help:-
If you have helpful contacts or ideas on how this petition can be won or further strengthened, please kindly let me know at @joboxer12.
Tweet this update or share the petition on social media using the hashtags #Nature #birds #NoToBirdSpikes #JustWhoisTrespassing #LetTheBirdsFly
Post a bird image you have taken to social media with the petition link asking people to sign & share (use the hashtags above). Add your own words saying why you think birds should not get hurt or killed by bird deterrents.
Join the Rooftop Bird Club Facebook group to celebrate birds and wildlife living on our buildings and homes and record birds hurt or killed by bird deterrents.
Thanks so much for all your support. Let’s keep soaring to success!!!!!!