rasbull

No payment, just close that page and then reopen it and your signature will appear on the petition. I have no idea mate just something that pops up after you have signed but NO payment is required!! ;) :)

Later tonight I will setup a group on Facebook aimed at highlighting our plight. I will post details of the link for those of you with Facebook accounts. Everyone is urged to join though whether you have an existing account or not. Please post as many pictures as you like. Anything that helps raise awareness has got to be worth a shot!

Cheers guys! This is a reply to the letter that I will be forwarding to all newspaper editors as a result of a letter in the Daily Mail. I will then at a later date and as a result of the response I get back from this letter, together with evidence of bird kills, attacks etc send another letter. I will also forward the petition when far more names have signed up to it. I ask if any of you have a facebook account to place the link to the site on your status and hopefully we can start raising awareness in areas we may not have ventured before. I am looking for 1,000 signatures on that petition before I send it off to MP's, Newspapers etc, so please get passing the word on and get everyone you know involved and on it. Cheers. I was reading the letter published in your paper, Wednesday 17th March by Mr W.Cowell. I have to say I totally agree with what he stated in his letter regarding the decline in the British song bird population due to increased Bird of Prey levels. The last few weeks have seen various articles in newspapers regarding the effect Birds of Prey are having. From the article discussing the demise of songbirds from the sparrow hawk to 75 starlings found dead within a small area of each other in an urban area, believed to be from a hawk attack. In my own garden I used to see many species of birds - chaffinch, blue tits, great tits, bullfinch, wrens. I used to have blue tits nesting each year without fail. My garden has not changed over the years, but there have been no nesting birds for more years than I care to remember. This is such a shame and despite the many factors which could be blamed for this, the fact remains the most likely cause is increased predatory activity. I look out of my window and where I used to see 1 kestrel, I now see 4 or 5 all flying in close proximity of each other. I keep racing pigeons and many are finding it increasingly difficult to let their birds out for their freedom without fear of a sparrow hawk or peregeine hunting their beloved birds. Fanciers all over the country are reporting increased attacks to the stage where they are becoming so disillusioned they are quitting the sport. One loft has reportedly had 29 birds killed this year alone! The protection for Birds of Prey was put in place many, many years ago after persecution and rightly so. However, as the years have passed the balance has been re addressed and now the uncontrolled monitoring of allowing these birds to breed freely with no regulation is having a detrimental effect on the song birds, hunting and pigeon racing fraternities. It is of a result of such gross short-sightedness I have set up an online petition for people who share the same fears as myself, who may have witnessed attacks or seen a dramatic decline in their own garden songbird population. The petition is calling for the protection these Bird of prey currently enjoy to be removed. I will be creating a website that will be designed at raising awareness of the plight of the song birds in this country. I would request photographic evidence of attacks etc. I will collate a dossier and when complete will submit to various newspapers, MPs and the RSPB. I am not so naïve as to believe this site will bring a change to the law, but with increased awareness of the current situation it may just be enough for the public to sit up and actually ask themselves where have all the song birds gone? The name of the sight is www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk. but is going to take a while for the pages to be setup, in the meantime please feel free to submit any photos you may have and please sign the online petition. Together we can go a little way to saving the song birds of this country. If we don't, who else will? The RSPB? I doubt it! Richard Shepherd www.rasbull-lofts.co.uk

Cheers Maxwell and cheers all who have signed but we need more, so get friends, family, children etc on the list to! More the merrier! ;D ;D

cheers STB :-) (what was the thread m8?)

And still needing pictures etc!!! :-)

Cheers guys, have just sent a letter into the BHW and Racing Pigeon which hopefully will appear in the letters page. Will have missed this weeks deadline so fingers crossed it appears in next weeks.

Thank you Youngboy! I have spent the evening on a forum of bird lovers gauging opinion. Quite interesting to say the least! I looked at the number of people registered and they have 88,000 members! I have managed to at least get a thread on the site and start discussing the BOP problem! Even if 5 of these 88,000 stop and think it will be worth it!

C'mon guys get your names on this petition! 51 so far, and how many members on this site?? :-/ We gotta help ourselves, it takes 2 minutes and doesnt cost anything!

yep just asked for permission to use them! :-)

I need photos of attacks, kills etc for the dossier I am compiling. Anything sent will be gratefully received. Raising awareness is what this is all about and the more shocking the photo the better. We are not going to change the law, but I am damn sure I am going to raise awareness by the time I am finished. I believe we have been looking at this all wrong, and approaching it from the wrong angle. I aim to address this and then let the people with the real clout to spread the word! Thank You. Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

We can but try! I am not aiming at anyone other than newspapers to be honest. If we can get the MP's on board then great but if all I achieve is one article in a national newspaper it will have been worth it! Hopefully they will then get pass the message on further again and people will start to question the BOP levels in this country. Newspapers - They are the ones with the real voice in this country! I am not as naive to think I will change the law with a small amount of signatures but if we can raise awareness amongst the general public that has to be our goal. There are far more of the general public who are interested in songbirds than will ever be interested in pigeons or BOP's and if we can hijack the brainwashing that has been going on and make people open their eyes it will be a job well done. The only way of getting our message across is not wallowing in self pity on here, or down our clubs but through media. I am young and want a sport I can enjoy for many years to come and if things dont change then that will not be happening!

I will be setting up a facebook group in addition to this website, and will publish details when complete. I will also be writing to the BHW and Racing Pigeon in an attempt for backing for this project. I need you guys to support me and send me pictures especially of the damage these BOP are doing. Cheers

Right after reading Owen's post earlier today, regarding people talking a good talk on here and doing little about it I have decided to start a website aimed at getting an online petition signed by as many people as possible. This will be sent along with as much photographic evidence as possible to all National Newspapers, TV Networks, MP's and RSPB in an attempt to have to the protection the Birds of Prey currently have removed. I will need everyones support for this to work. I am going to publish the photos sent on the website and highlight once and for all the destruction these birds are having on our sport and the songbird population in general. If you have pictures of birds which have been attacked or injured, details of attacks, amount of losses etc please get in touch. I have put the link to the petition on main page of my website and please follow link. I hope you will all join in this quest, and please email the link for the petition to all family, friends, neighbours you can think of. The time for action is now, so lets stop talking the talk and start walking the walk!! ;-) www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk is the site name. I am in the process of building a site especially for this project and this is going to take some time to set up. But at least the petition is up and running. So c'mon lets get this ball moving! Richard Shepherd www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk

thats is just awful m8. What a cracking picture of him though, outstanding cock

I dont have it m8, was reading it in work. All I know is it was on the letters page towards to the back of the paper.

There was another letter as well in todays Mail, different from the article in the link Bigda. But all good for raising awareness I feel. Its just a shame that there isnt a whole lot more of it!

There was a good letter in the Daily Mail today on the letters page from an ex RSPB member criticing the RSPB of doing all they can to protect BOP while the songbirds were becoming wiped out as they stand by. It said about the numbers of BOP being at an all time high and how they are now being placed in towns and cities as there is just no room in the wild for these birds. I was thinking if everyone wrote in regarding this letter that the paper might be inclined to do an article on the topic and we would gain some great publicty for our continued problem. The letter called for a cull of BOP and we should support this letter and make good use of it! ;-)

I would love to see him back in the Premier League and think he would do a great job at Man Utd. He is one of the best characters in football

gutted, had a bet on Eto 1st goal and Inter 2-0, would have given me 2 grand! Turnbull pulled off a great save in injury time to deny me! :-(

I used to use them all the time, but then things started being out of stock, long delivery etc. I have changed now to Taylors Choice and must say first class service each time I have used them. I will not use Boddy and Ridewood again if I can help it which is a shame because they used to be my first port of call.

Mine is just outside my backdoor. Did move house for a while and used to travel about a mile to my mothers house for a while about 10 years ago. Didnt like that at all and definitely not the same. I love just opening the door and the first thing you see is the loft and the birds. I packed in after about a year with the travelling all those years ago. Just wasn't the same. I think if I didn't have the birds in the garden, I wouldn't keep them.

Rhondda Valley first race is 17th April - about 76 miles to me

Looking good Paul! Had my first hatch this morning.

Hiya Paddy, as you are new to the sport the easiest way for you would be natural. You can race both cocks and hens. I will be racing it this season with my own birds. If you want any information give me a pm mate.