Great news this week from Wales thanks to Julie James MS. And almost 40,000 signatures! Help get the petition noticed in the rest of the UK by getting the attention of George Eustice, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with more signatures.
Please sign the petition to reduce the use of bird deterrents. Please share it or consider supporting it to reach more people. Thank you for your incredible support!
#NoToBirdSpikes #BanBirdNetting #ReduceBirdDeterrents #LetTheBirdsFly #Biodiversity #GullsAreGreat #ClimateAction #PigeonsDeserveBetter #Nature
A response from the Welsh Government
Thanks to so many of you the Welsh Government this week formally responded to the petition. They stated:
‘The Welsh Government is looking at wider concerns about wildlife in urban areas and this petition will be considered as part of that.’
The scandal of how our rooftop birds such as gulls, kittiwakes, swifts, swallows and pigeons are treated with such cruelty still needs to catch the eye of the wider UK Government.
The statement from the Welsh Government is a notable victory. I want to celebrate and thank you for your amazing encouragement and continued support. Together a difference is being made. The issue is now on the public agenda at least here in Wales. I intend now to do my utmost to ensure a better deal for rooftop birds across the UK to stop the cruelty and hope you will join me.
Please sign the petition wherever in the UK you live. Share widely or even contribute to promote it. Let’s get this petition dancing! Thank you.
#NoToBirdSpikes #BanBirdNetting #ReduceBirdDeterrents #LetTheBirdsFly #Biodiversity #GullsAreGreat #ClimateAction #PigeonsDeserveBetter #Nature
Disco Inferno?
This week’s celebratory ‘spider’s web disco ball’ image was kindly donated by the talented ©Debbie Geraghty. Whilst looking like a super fun disco ball, the wonderfully intricate natural web image perhaps reminds of the web of life that connects us all to nature, climate and biodiversity. Together, all 40,000 of us have so far signed and shared the petition collectively to make a real difference for humble urban wildlife. So why not make time to dance:-).
Now, on a more serious note, we need to keep up the momentum. I need your help to get the UK Government’s attention.
One of the people who kindly signed the petition recently expressed all that’s at stake most clearly. He felt the introduction of bird netting and spikes as rooftop bird deterrents has negatively impacted biodiversity, resulting in untold suffering as birds endure a slow and painful death or are maimed by inappropriately chosen or placed deterrent measures. The bird deterrents make our urban areas uglier, devastates urban nature and undermines the potential of our relationship between people and nature. It is surely time to ban many of these monstrous and unnecessary products now.
So please will you sign and share the petition now using the link above?
Ban Rooftop Bird Netting and Redesign How we Deter Birds
I started the ChangeOrg petition after seeing a dead Herring Gull seemingly killed by bird deterrent spikes on a rooftop.
Having grown up near the coast, I was shocked to find out that though Herring Gulls still seem common, their populations have plummeted by a staggering 50 per cent since 1970. Defined as vulnerable, these rooftop birds are now on the red list of birds of conservation concern.
Herring Gulls are not the only rooftop birds affected by the cruel bird deterrents. For example Kittiwakes are red listed. The Lesser Black-backed Gull is also on the amber list and swallows and swifts maybe declining. Rooftop birds like gulls, pigeons, birds of prey, crows, swifts and swallows are all vulnerable to being injured or killed by the bird netting & spikes. And it’s all still being used on our buildings and garden walls.
Apart from helping maintain life-giving biodiversity, the bottom line to this issue is that cruelty should be designed out from the choice of deterrent measures used against rooftop birds. In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises let’s together tip the balance the right way in favour of nature, climate and against animal cruelty.
Every small action we take; even to save a seagull, pigeon, swallow or swift helps!
Urban Nature – time for a reboot or should I say remix?
A light is beginning to shine in the city.. Maybe not from a disco ball. It is though, beginning to shine for all urban wildlife. Scientists have begun finding out how many urban species form complex relationships in their new urban spaces interacting in surprising and adaptive ways. We are beginning to change our view on nature in the city. It comes from a combination of our hankering for the countryside; a desire for a slower pace in contrast to the ‘concrete jungles’ we so rapidly constructed. We are at last learning to reappreciate the wildlife in our gardens, parks, towns and cities in the face of the climate and biodiversity crises. More recently, Covid lockdown and the welcome escape and contemplation our most tree lined streets, our gardens and parks provided may have turned things much more in favour of urban species. Now is the time for us to find new ways of living alongside our urban friends including the feathered ones.
Why not reboot our relationship with urban nature just as we realise our coexistence with nature is crucial to our survival? Urban nature may not be always shiny but it is fragile, fascinating and most definitely fabulous too. Pigeons and gulls and the whole urban menagerie are surely underrated. Like us they deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. Today our cities and homes can become a place FOR nature rather than WITHOUT nature. Which way will you choose?
Together we can leave a functioning planet behind for our children. Let’s include the squawking gulls, cooing pigeons and other common birds of our rooftops too. Not just the brightest, most colourful, shiny, small or endangered ones.
Be a Rooftop Bird Activist…
Ramp up the pressure on the UK Governments to celebrate urban as well as rural nature. Stop the cruelty and save birds lives.
Please sign, share or promote the petition using the links above.
In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises let’s together tip the balance the right way in favour of nature, climate and against cruelty.
3 suggestions to help
Join the Facebook group: Rooftop Bird Club
If you have photographic evidence of injury or death to birds caused by bird deterrents please consider sharing photos with the petition link on social media with your reaction and the relevant hashtags. If you are on Twitter do DM me at @joboxer12 or via Messenger.
Any helpful ideas, research or contacts please DM at @joboxer12, at the Rooftop Bird Club or to me on Messenger
Let’s go for Rooftop Disco Ball Boogie Gold! Help get this petition dancing!