Big news! Today the petition was forwarded to the office of Julie James MS in the Welsh Government as the first stage of stopping the cruelty to rooftop birds across the UK. You may know I recently asked for a meeting with Julie James MS who is also Minister for Climate Change.
Please help by urgently writing an email today to Julie James MS urging her to meet to review the use of bird deterrents and stop the cruel killing of our rooftop birds.
Below is an example letter and the Member of Senedd’s email to assist you. If you can’t write now, please do so over the weekend to stop the cruelty. State that you live in Wales too if you do. Do add your own text too. Together, let’s imagine the impossible.
Thanks to people like you, the petition to reduce the use of cruel bird deterrents on buildings in the UK has reached 36,000 signatures.
Write now to the Julie James MS in the Welsh Government using this email address: Correspondence.Julie.James@gov.wales
Here is the suggested text for our letter...
Dear Julie James,
I am one of more than 36,000 people who have signed the petition on Change.org to reduce the use of bird deterrents on buildings to protect birds. Please will you urgently meet with the petition starter Patrick Driscall to review these cruel deterrents.
I am alarmed that many birds are injured or killed as a result of the cruel deterrent measures on rooftops in Wales. The measures range from bird spike strips to particularly cruel bird mesh netting. Despite the current controls in place to ensure ‘humane’ control where birds are causing ‘nuisance’ there is clearly evidence that birds are often killed or are dying slow and painful deaths.
Petition to reduce the use of bird deterrents on buildings
Many birds affected by these measures are red or amber listed such as gulls, swifts and birds of prey. In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises, I question therefore, why society does not value our rooftop and urban birds. I believe there is now an urgent need to review the use of bird deterrent measures, the licensing of pest control operators and the level of successful wildlife crime prosecution in Wales. I understand the petition organiser Patrick Driscall, who is one of your constituents, has asked for a meeting with you to discuss positive solutions forward. I urge you to meet with him and support him in this collective campaign.
As a recent report from the IPCC and IPBES made clear ‘- every local based nature-based biodiversity solution in our cities and towns matter as they accumulate together on a global scale’. Changing public and industry behaviours such as how we treat our urban wildlife on our rooftops can help mitigate the interrelated crises of biodiversity and climate change and will help accelerate collective action by the community.
I trust you will have a fruitful meeting and find constructive ways forward to stop this cruelty to our endangered and urban dwelling bird species.
Please stop this threat to our biodiversity now.
Yours sincerely
(Your Signature)
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Please also sign and continue to share the petition with your friends or on social media. Use the petition link below.
#Nature #birds #NoToBirdSpikes #NoToBirdNetting #NoToBirdDeterrents #LetTheBirdsFly
Let’s imagine the impossible…
Imagine if an Albatross, White Stork or Heron landed on your roof… Just how do you think you and your neighbours would react? My suspicion is you would be very pleased and want them to stay around and if they chose to nest – I suspect you would be over the moon?
Let’s imagine the impossible together. Help stop needless deaths and injuries to rooftop birds by writing NOW to Julie James MS. Use the text above to do so or please sign and share the petition. Thank you.
Petition Link
This week’s photograph is of a Black-browed Albatross which was miraculously spotted flying at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire recently. The photo is published with kind permission of ©BobH. Big thanks to him.
Strange things indeed are going on with changing climate affecting our birds and wildlife. Common birds like gulls are now endangered because their food supplies are being threatened. A Walrus has been spotted off the Welsh and Cornish coasts. And unusual birds such as Albatrosses, Pacific Swifts and others are appearing in places they are rarely found as the climate gets more extreme and weather patterns shift.
With the biodiversity and climate crises affecting our bird populations it’s clearly high time we reassess our relationship with birds. Let’s do all we can to protect all birds including the humble endangered gulls, pigeons, swallows, crows and swifts of our rooftops and maybe, just maybe an adventurous Albatross too….
Together, lets halt the death or injury of birds on Britain’s rooftops
Recently, I saw a Herring Gull dangling dead from a roof top caught by a strip of spiked bird deterrents. I’ve also seen birds caught in mesh netting legally set up on roofs to deter birds. I questioned why is it we don’t value our roof top birds more. That’s why I started the petition.
You are cordially invited 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. Hope to see you there! Thank you.