Petition to reduce the use of bird deterrents on buildings. Please sign and share. Thank you.
‘But the sea which no one tends is also a garden’ - William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Brueghel & Other Poems
The beautiful image of a nesting Kittiwake is by Philip Croft. Kittiwakes are a small species of gull that sometimes nests on rooftops. The bird is highly dependent for food on sandeels populations which are now adversely affected by climate change. Other red listed gull species, like Kittiwake, are sadly killed or injured by the use of rooftop bird deterrents such as cruel netting and bird spikes on buildings.
Please consider signing and sharing this petition to reduce the use of cruel bird deterrents on buildings? Thank you.
#BanBirdNetting #NoToBirdSpikes #Nature #SaveOurSeabirds #ClimateActionNow #Oceans #COP26
Last week I reported the brilliant news that thanks to your help and support in getting this petition noticed, the Deputy Minister of Climate Change in Wales, Lee Waters AS/MS, has given a helpful response to the petition. He will be…
‘ - writing to advise all Local Planning Authorities (across Wales) to avoid permitting such spikes and nets and also to encourage all Local Authorities to take steps to remove spikes and nets as opportunities arise.’
Let’s hope George Eustice responds positively to the petition for the whole of the UK.
Please will you now kindly take one of the two actions listed below? One action is simply to write (email) to DEFRA using your own words or using the template letter now revised to include the recent good news from Wales. The campaign against cruelty to our rooftop and often climate vulnerable seabirds begins here…
This week I would like to highlight a new, illuminating rand highly relevant report; ‘Climate Change and the UK’s Birds’ just published by the British Trust for Ornithology. The report offers both good, bad and even surprising news for UK bird populations. It notably highlights the effect of climate change on our seabirds some of which use our rooftops and are additionally harmed by the cruel bird deterrent measures this petition aims to reduce. Read more below.
I started this petition after seeing a dead Herring Gull seemingly killed by bird deterrent spikes on a rooftop. Herring Gulls are not the only rooftop birds affected by the bird deterrents. For example Kittiwakes are affected also and like Herring Gulls are red listed as of conservation concern. The Lesser Black-backed Gull is also on the amber list. All seven species of gull are birds of conservation concern. The causes of their decline is still uncertain. It may be due to changes in their maritime environment such as pollution and overfishing.
Populations of other rooftop birds such as Swallows are fluctuating for a variety of reasons including climate change, while Swifts are on the amber list having declined by over half in recent years. Rooftop birds ranging from gulls to pigeons, birds of prey, crows, swifts, house martins and swallows, are all vulnerable to being injured or killed by the rooftop bird deterrent netting or spikes.
'In nature nothing exists alone.' - Rachel Carson, ‘Silent Spring’, Penguin Classics
Please will you consider signing and sharing the petition to reduce the use of cruel bird deterrents on buildings? Thank you.
#BanBirdNetting #NoToBirdSpikes #Biodiversity #SaveOurSeabirds #ClimateActionNow #Oceans #COP26
Last week I dug deep looking at how we as individuals and communities have agency and how this agency can bring about real change. I also explained how this power can be too easily lost because of lack of public access to or rights to information, over reach of those in power, and a considerable public lack of transparency. As the COP26 meeting in Glasgow continues I hope you will join me in celebrating the efforts of those people from communities around the world as they attempt to make this collective effort to mitigate against climate change one that is a fair and just transition. Our future global stability, peace and ability to flourish and be well will depend on what we all do. Our future is in our hands.
Back to rooftop bird deterrents… a Scottish pest controller shared with me that he has had to retrieve 20 dead gulls and more than 100 pigeons and even the smaller swifts caught in rooftop netting in the last year.
Will you kindly take the 2 simple actions below? Thank you.
Email a letter to George Eustice MP (if he is your MP) or to DEFRA or your political representative (using the text and contact details below), share the petition or even kindly support the petition financially.
Action 1: Sign and share the petition using the link above.
Action 2: Copy, paste and then email the letter text below to your local politician or preferably send one to George Eustice as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at DEFRA.
Email the short letter using the text below to George Eustice, MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs or DEFRA. Please use the DEFRA helpline email -
defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk OR for constituents of George Eustice, MP in Cornwall use george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk
You can also email your local MP, MS or MSP or councillor, to get them on board. Contact details of all local representatives can be found at writetothem.com
Remember to change who you address your email to and include your address and contact details.
Wales: The minister responsible for this issue is Lee Waters MS, Deputy Minister of Climate Change email: lee.waters@gov.wales
Scotland: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport. (Use above website for representatives).
Suggested text for the letter..
_________________________________________________
Dear Rt Hon George Eustice MP,
Reduce the use of cruel bird deterrents on buildings
I write to you to ask you to speak up for rooftop birds many of which are red or amber listed species such as gull species, birds of prey, swifts and swallows. In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises and with the COP26 meeting in Glasgow currently in progress, please will you make a commitment to ensure a reduction in the use cruel bird deterrent measures such as cruel mesh netting and metal bird spikes on buildings. A petition on Change.org has gained 42,000 signatures and continues to climb. To date the Deputy Minister for Climate Change in Wales, Lee Waters AS/MS, has responded and will be;-
‘- writing to advise Local Authorities to take steps to remove spikes and nets and also to encourage Local Authorities to take steps to remove spikes and nets as opportunities arise.’
Many declining or even red listed birds are injured or killed as a result of the cruel deterrent measures on rooftops in the UK. A recent report, ‘Climate Change and the UK’s Birds’ published by the British Trust for Ornithology suggests populations of a third of common and more widespread breeding bird species are influenced by rainfall and temperature changes. Many sea and coastal bird species rely on sandeels as food for their chicks and their decline has reduced seabird breeding success with fourteen of the twenty seabirds being at high or medium risk from the negative impacts of climate change. Urban rooftop bird species affected include red listed Kittiwake (and possibly other gull – species though more research is urgently needed).
Despite current methods to ensure ‘humane’ control of birds causing ‘nuisance’, wildlife rescue centres, pest controllers and roofers are reporting slow, lingering deaths or injuries to both declining and common bird species. It would be fantastic if as an easy measure to enhance biodiversity in our towns and cities you will actively consider banning netting on roofs and encourage local authority planning departments to avoid the use of unnecessary plastic or metal spikes in future and furthermore aim to remove the legacy of the deterrent measures already in place.
Faced with the climate and biodiversity crises, it is surely timely to better understand and reassess our relationship with urban nature species; including rooftop and even our common birds, reconsidering how they are treated in our towns and cities. The definition of bird nuisance could certainly be better nuanced within planning law so inappropriate use of bird deterrents is designed out and more ethical pest control encouraged.
Since the use of bird deterrents crosses many areas of administration it would be helpful to focus on stamping out cruelty and species loss by action across agencies rather than simply focusing on reducing bird nuisance.
Please will you stand up for urban wildlife. In particular commit to a new vision for our diverse rooftop bird species and ensure urban wildlife crimes are followed up and prosecuted.
The recent report from the IPCC and IPBES made clear ‘- every local nature-based biodiversity solution in our cities and towns matter as they accumulate together on a global scale’. Changing public and industry behaviours on how we treat our urban wildlife can help mitigate the interrelated crises of biodiversity and climate change. It will also importantly help accelerate collective action by the community.
I trust you will help stop the use of cruel bird deterrent measures and will fully support this collective campaign.
Yours sincerely
(Your Signature)
__________________________________________________
The Effect of Climate Change on UK Birds and How You Can Help
The excellent recently published report ‘Climate Change and the UK’s Birds’ from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) shows how climate change is already impacting the UK’s birds. It is already known that climate change has shifted bird communities with consistent simplification of bird communities as they become similar to each other rather like the shops in our malls have become the same bigger more successful and adaptable brands.
In terms of rooftop birds the picture is not entirely clear due to a lack of data. With some of our rooftop species being seabirds in trying to summarise the report I will highlight the climate impacts on these species expressed by the report. With these species that are already affected by cruel bird deterrents also being adversely affected by climate change there is clearly an urgent need for targeted new funding for research and more citizen science supported by BTO and other organisations and institutions. The ongoing Seabirds Count census will soon provide a 20-year update on their populations.
The BTO actively supports a network of skilled citizen scientists across the UK. The data they have collected over many decades has revealed a range of climate change impacts from impacts on breeding success and even changes in community structure. The report points out that scientific evidence is needed so decision making can maximise winning solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation and nature. Long-term monitoring is crucial to ensure these interventions are successful.
Change in climate has driven bird species further north at a rate of over 11km per decade. When birds breed and when they migrate has shifted by an average of 1 – 3 days per decade. Migratory birds are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change with widespread declines around the world. Where global warming has already been the greatest is where bird population declines have also been most rapid. Estimates of numbers of bird species globally threatened with extinction due to climate change vary widely. The figure could be as high as 30% or as low as 1% with a current estimate hovering around 7%..
The report relates long-term trends of UK bird populations to separately published species’ responses to climate change, temperature and rainfall. It manages to summarise the results of different climate change vulnerability assessments providing a picture of the likely future impacts of climate change on UK birds so far. Importantly, it highlights examples where more major climate mitigation measures provide opportunities to transform landscapes with considerable positive impacts on birds and where actions to conserve species can also help species to adapt to climate change.
The BTO found that in the UK, 14 seabird species are regarded as being at risk of negative climate change impacts. The iconic puffin for example is projected to catastrophically decline across Britain and Ireland by 89% by 2050. As well as seabirds, upland breeding birds are the other most climate change vulnerable group of birds.
Some good news is that populations of breeding southerly-distributed waterbirds, coastal and heathland species are expanding, colonising from continental Europe and in some cases increasing in numbers.
The report notes that climate change has been one of the two most important drivers of breeding population changes since the 70s the other being agricultural intensification. The main mechanisms for bird population changes due to climate change appear to be species interactions rather than direct responses to warming.
Populations of a third of common and more widespread breeding species were influenced by rainfall and temperature changes. For example less severe winters has led to better survival of resident species and warmer springs have led to better breeding successes.
Meanwhile populations of species vary that migrate long distances and winter in Africa benefiting from wet rainy seasons there. Warming climate in the UK and mixed rainfall trends in Africa has led to these species populations diverging from resident UK species in terms of breeding success. Climate and other impacts at different stages of bird flyways may disrupt dependencies between them; for example between wintering and breeding destinations or stopover sites. Substantial changes in migratory patterns may result from climate change and there is the potential because of less severe winters for migrants to reduce their travel distance and actually show more adaptive ability to climate change than resident species.
Changes in the timing of biological events such as plant bud burst and consequent availability of caterpillars (known as phenological changes) may become misaligned meaning some song birds species will not be able to access sufficient caterpillar prey for their chicks particularly with migrant. To date despite such misalignments being studied in over 100 taxa there is no strong evidence of widespread problems to date across the globe.
Species are responding to temperature changes in a variety of ways. Those breeding species that exhibit negative responses to temperature have tended to decline by a third in just 25 years. Those with a positive response have tended to increase by 19%. Negatively responding wintering populations declined by an average of 34% while those with positive responses tended to increase by 44% though with substantial variation.
Ranges of species that are more southerly in distribution have shifted north or more to the north east such as nuthatches and garden warbler. More northerly distributed species such as Red Throated Diver and Golden Plover as yet have not retracted in their ranges. Many species are spreading from continental Europe with Little Bittern, Cattle Egret, Night Heron and Great White Heron already breeding in UK and Black Kite, Bonelli’s Warbler and Short Toed Treecreeper identified as being potential new breeding colonists.
Large scale changes in bird communities have become evident in the last 20 years with for example more warmth associated species such as Nuthatches and Cetti’s warblers doing better whilst more cold associated species such as Curlew and Willow Warbler are fairing less well.
An index used to reflect the climate a species at a particular location is associated with; known as the Community Temperature Index (CTI), has been used to track the climate change impacts. Recent UK increases of this index would appear to be driving declines of cold associated species. Habitat specialists such as Starlings (now largely only present in urban environments) and Meadow Pipits have declined while generalist species like Goldfinch and Wood Pigeon have increased and are less restricted in distribution.
Some ‘good news’ for bird watchers is that warming has been associated with an increase in species richness and diversity amongst breeding bird populations UK wide. Species richness increases in a latitudinal gradient meaning that the rising temperatures and poleward shifts of species ranges may result in more species responding positively to climate change than negatively (though I wonder how this affected by actual land distribution north to south). An increase in functional diversity of wintering waders on UK estuaries may be related to warming.
Of the 20 UK species of seabird there is published evidence that 11 of them are negatively impacted by climate change with 14 being at high or medium risk of these negative impacts. Only one species is positively affected by climate change. Seabirds are highly vulnerable to future climate change with 50% declines in the number of internationally important breeding seabirds projected under a high climate change scenario to 2080 and 40% of species projected to be red-listed solely because of climate change. A third of UK breeding seabird species have suffered declines of at least 20-30%. Large scale breeding failures have increased in frequency. The three key threats contributing to recent declines of UK seabirds are climate change, invasive alien species and by-catch in fisheries. Negative climate change mechanisms impacting them include increasing temperatures disrupting marine food webs, plankton communities and affecting the size of preyed upon fish. As already discussed in previous petition updates many species rely on sandeels as food for their chicks and their decline has reduced seabird breeding success. Urban rooftop species affected include red listed Kittiwake (and possibly Herring Gull – though research here is needed). Puffins fulmars and Artic Terns are amongst those other species affected.
With seabirds also suffering from negative impacts from high temperatures when breeding, storms affecting adult mortality and reduced breeding success for low-lying colonies exposed to flooding at a European scale, two thirds of 23 species are projected to decline in range extent due to climate change. Similarly models have indicated that 44% of a combined number of 45 species of breeding marine waterbirds and seabirds have a very high or high vulnerability to surface sea temperature rise.
On top of the 20 seabirds associated with marine habitats 15 other species (5 seabirds, 5 waders and 5 other birds) are associated in the UK with coastal habitats. To date only 3 species have been studied as regards climate change impacts. 7 (47%) of the coastal birds are projected to benefit from climate change with many of the species having roughly balanced population trends hence the omission in studies so far.
The report digs deeper on the different groups of birds such upland species, wintering waterbirds and Afro-palaeartic migrant. It also considers the impacts of climate mitigation measures such as marine renewables and tree planting and also protected areas and references studies throughout.
There is still a considerable lack of information about how climate change is affecting 132 species of UK breeding birds and most wintering species. For example there is less monitoring of wintering species and there is currently a big data gap when it comes to coastal birds. There are negative responses to higher sea surface temperatures by seabirds. Plugging these information gaps will be essential for the future.
Have you considered taking part in bird monitoring? Why not check out the BTO website for details of how to get involved in their citizen science projects?
People do have power… let’s together use it well.
Let’s not simply accept just who we are, or what we’ve become. Let’s redefine who we could be, reconsider the how; of how we get there, and the limits of and possibilities of what that world and indeed we together might be. Question, doubt, be furious, be mad, be rebellious about all injustices. Be it poor job opportunities, dirty water or dead animals. The world is all our your business.
Let’s keep the squawking gulls, cooing pigeons and chirping sparrows thriving and see the wondrous possibilities of this planet, vision them and open ourselves to transparency, trust and connection.
Please sign and share the petition and kindly consider supporting it if you have the means. Thank you for reading this far! PD