The petition to reduce the use of cruel bird deterrents on buildings in the UK is now one of the most popular petitions in the UK having soared past 35,000 signatures. Thank you!
Please sign and share the petition with your friends or on social media. The petition link is below.
#Nature #birds #NoToBirdSpikes #NoToBirdNetting #NoToBirdDeterrents #LetTheBirdsFly #JustWhoisTrespassing
Stop Cruelty to our Rooftop Birds
I recently saw a poor Herring Gull dangling dead from a roof top caught by a strip of spiked bird deterrents. I’ve also seen birds caught in netting set up on roofs to deter birds. I questioned why we don’t value our roof top birds more. That’s why I started the petition.
I've requested a meeting with Julie James MS of the Welsh Government for an initial meeting about cruel bird deterrents.
Some good news! This week the Welsh Government made a big step forward on wildlife crime which includes birds killed or injured by cruel bird deterrents. They appointed a dedicated Wildlife and Rural Crime Coordinator, Rob Taylor who will work with the four police forces across Wales, other emergency services, wildlife and farming representatives and the UK Government to tackle countryside crime. Let’s hope urban wildlife crime is included? Together we can add to this by encouraging UK Governments to more clearly limit the use of cruel bird deterrents.
Please help now
Sign and share the petition with your friends or on social media to get birds landing safely. #Nature #birds #NoToBirdSpikes #NoToBirdNetting #LetTheBirdsFly #JustWhoisTrespassing
Every small & helpful thing we as communities do will contribute to mitigate against the two mega crises of biodiversity ad climate change.
Invite to join the Rooftop Bird Club
The Rooftop Bird Club was inspired by the petition support. I hope for it to become a place for you to celebrate not only birds but plants and other wildlife that make their homes on our buildings, in our gardens and local green spaces.
Joining is easy. Search on Facebook for the group, then join and share your urban/garden nature pictures and stories or create debate and discussion.
Let's Welcome Common Birds on our Rooftops too
The stunning photo of a perky looking rooftop Pigeon is shared with kind permission from ©Maït Foulkes who donated brilliant images of roof top birds.
The proof is before our eyes!
“- installed bird deterrent netting in particular is sometimes indeed lethal. He (a respected pest control operator) has sadly seen and tried to help 20 gulls, more than 100 pigeons and even a swift caught in such netting. “
Pigeons, Wood pigeons and Collared Doves (and more rarely endangered Turtle Doves) are visitors to many of our house rooftops. They are often in danger of being injured or killed by bird deterrent spiked strips and installed bird netting.
Importantly, as far as I am aware there has been no proper research on the fatality and injury rate of spiked deterrents strips. Though the numbers hurt or killed is perhaps relatively low (probably adding to thousands across the UK), it would be great if a scientific institution could attempt research especially as much natural resources are used in producing them.
I recently received an encouraging message from a respected pest controller as a result of this petition. He has found that bird spike deterrents were not that effective with birds such as gulls and pigeons often choosing them as nest sites. It turns out sticks and debris are easily held together by the handy spikes making a good nest site. He also shared his experience that installed bird deterrent netting in particular is sometimes indeed lethal. It should be regularly checked, kept taut and of the right size which often it is not. He has sadly seen and tried to help 20 gulls, more than 100 pigeons and even a swift caught in such netting. Interestingly too, he is campaigning for Non-Lethal Licences for pest controllers. Amazingly these are not available. I hope you will support me in supporting that campaign in Wales and hopefully all parts of the UK.
Over the pandemic many of us reacquainted ourselves with the nature around us and in our own backyards, often simply because we couldn’t travel far, or better still because it allowed us to get fresh air and all important health giving exercise. Collectively our communities have been awakened to how beneficial to our wellbeing local green spaces, parks, leafy walks and street trees in our towns and cities really are. SPENDING TIME IN NATURE is REALLY GOOD for our WELLBEING.
In a previous update I suggested how a recent report emphasized how important it is to tackle both the biodiversity and climate emergency crises at the same time because they are interrelated. The places we live, our future climate, food sources, living conditions and air quality are all affected by this. Our lives will depend on how we approach these two issues.
In the grand scheme of things you might think the humble pigeon doesn’t matter yet all species have complex relationships we have only just begun to understand within the web of life. Pigeons feed not just on the food scraps humans feed them but on buds, seeds, small invertebrates and seeds. Some of what they do may well be beneficial to our food production though some clearly is not. It’s worth remembering pigeons are famous for carrying important messages across the battlefields of World War I and II.
Amongst our urban birds, pigeons in particular, are often perceived as a nuisance on our roofs. People may wish to deter them for various reasons. Two of the best non-lethal ways are to limit their food availability hence the notices you see not to feed the pigeons or to simply regularly disturb them for example by a programme of regular rooftop maintenance and cleaning. There are a range of non-lethal ways to impede pigeons from settling or nesting for example simple wire frame structures or slanted slates around chimney stacks. Bird deterrent strips of spikes come in various designs probably only some of which are non-lethal such as bendy plastic ones. They must be installed by trained professionals and inspected regularly. Falcons or plastic replicas sited and moved about have also been used in cities.
In the time of the current pandemic there has been a mushrooming of public interest and appreciation of the crucial role the nature that surrounds us plays both for the health of our planet and our own health and wellbeing. As I expressed in last weeks update E.F. Schumacher who wrote “Small is Beautiful” warned against exactly the issues we are now dealing with in the pandemic; inequality, depression, anxiety, panic and stress. These were all things that Schumacher feared. By going back to "small is beautiful", to a more human scale; to wellbeing and communities, he also believed we might also begin to realise our interdependence with our shared natural environment and be good stewards of it. Perhaps therefore we should recognise the benefits from embracing the nature communities around us.
Nature is not there to be extracted from or to simply be managed as if we own it. In the big world picture the odd dead bird because of rooftop spikes or netting absolutely does matter just as ensuring the biodiverse health of our soil under competitive agricultural production matters and just as we and our rooftop birds mutually depend on the health of the fish in our oceans to feed us all or the ocean to act as a carbon sink.
What now?
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.
Build Back Greener
Building back can now can 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 including non-lethal 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.
3 things you can 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 #ReduceBirdDeterrents #NoToBirdNetting#NoToBirdSpikes #LetTheBirdsFly
Join the Rooftop Bird Club
Our #birds don’t deserve to be killed or injured. Let’s tip the balance in favour of #biodiversity. Thanks so much for all your support. Let’s keep zooming to success!!!!!!