Mealy Cock

I have just received this from the RSPB. They have not answered any of my lengthy e-mail to them I will of course be writing back to them asking for their evidence. It seems now we are a minority according to the RSPB THEIR REPLY. Michael Our species policy officer has instructed me to point out the following. In Britain, there has been a recovery of Peregrine populations, since the crash of the 1960s. This has been greatly assisted by conservation and protection work led by the Society. Peregrines now breed in many mountainous and coastal areas, especially in the west and north, and nest in some urban areas, capitalizing on the urban pigeon populations for food. The UK peregrines are still under threat from illegal killing and nest disturbance, particularly on land managed for driven grouse shooting. The RSPB is working to reduce ALL bird decline, based on the best available evidence. The available scientific evidence clearly shows predation by birds of prey does not cause declines in their prey Predation is a 100% natural process and is I no way "sport". Much like the African lions predating on Gazelle. It is the food chain and completely natural. A recent RSPB petition hand-in shows how strongly the public feels about the need to protect our birds of prey, there remains a minority who see them as pests to be exterminated. Thanks for the email. Kind Regards,

Since joining this forum I have read a lot about BOP attacks, cat problems and the like and the devastation And distress it causes, not only that the financial loss. I am now wondering is it worth restarting back in the sport; it seems the problems my brother and I had Many years ago are nothing compared to present times and they are now seem to be 10x worse.

I had problems with cats, I was advised that the cat owner is responsible for any damage or loss. I would write out a bill to the value to the loss and damage and bill them, with the threat for small claims court if they don't pay up

Water balloon them, that is the small type that children play with

My trick with Y/B is from the start, I would sit on the loft floor with them and feed them, and I would also sit on the lawn And let the birds walk out of the loft, I had open door then, that is my way of letting the birds trust you As for them sitting on the roof, use those water balloons, throw or gat them, they splash on impact on the roof. If they don't tow the line after that it's bin time.

I was gutted when I say your bird eaten, what a promissing bird it was looking to be. I challenged the RSPB to start compensating people who had lost live stock or birds to BOP. Upto now they have not replied to any of my letter, put a value on the bird and e-mail the RSPB with the picture and post their reply. From what I have seen on this board says greatly the RSPB have got their sums wrong, here is part of an e-mail from the RSPB to myself: Pigeons fail to return to their lofts for a variety of reasons. A UK wide study by the Government's UK Raptor Working Group found that: straying and exhaustion accounted for 36 per cent of losses collisions with solid objects like buildings and windows - 19 per cent of losses collisions with overhead wires - 15 per cent of losses predation by birds of prey - 14 per cent of losses shooting, entanglement in netting, poisoning and oiling - 8 per cent of losses predation by mammals, including domestic cats - 8 per cent of losses. An average loft in the UK houses 73 racing pigeons - the research indicates that a typical owner will lose 38 pigeons each year. Of these, just over five would be killed by sparrowhawks and peregrines while 14 will have strayed, gone feral or died of starvation and exhaustion; seven will have died in a collision, six will have hit overhead wires; three will have been shot, poisoned or oiled, and three will have been eaten by a mammal. Both Pigeon and Dove numbers are doing well and are not declining.

Your are correct, but those that I have seen say they will only provide pedigrees as and when the birds have won! Therefore as I can see, it’s so that the people that buy youngsters at a fair price, race the birds and report back. This I feel is to stop people buying birds and then selling youngsters cheaper. But I do feel pedigree should be supplied at time of purchased or at and agreed time. As for the stud it's self I visited it, there was a number of good birds but they was getting on in years, that was 5 years+ ago. I was not impressed. But as it goes, if you talk the talk you sell your birds

Don't bank on the Police getting the people responsible, they don't care! Glad to see the chap got his bird back

I have signed, just an update, my e-mail to the RSPB they have not answered, it was sent on the 12th this month It seems I have caught the man out with his own replies and has no answers or explanations to what I have written And asked. If we all take a positive attitude backed by evidence to the powers that be may be the is a hope

That’s interesting, what constitutes a lot pigeons in your loft?

I was getting cat trouble from the off, I spoke to the owners first off, one was ok about it, the other thought it was funny. What I used was a jug of cold water over it, it does not hurt the cat but the cold water gives it a shock. I had one cat that sat on a post near my stock loft aviary with its back to the birds I did not bother that cat as whilst it was there you Did not see any others.

Do fanciers still inoculate for pigeon pox these days.

Nothing wrong with the RSPCA, I was using it as a like to the RSPB. Or if you like, I found it rather amusing

This just about sums up the Rspca. Their mentality has no boundaries http://newslite.tv/2008/12/11/rspca-officers-tried-to-rescue.html

Hi Lindsay C. Sorry to hear you are having a bad time, I can confirm up to today the RSPB have failed to reply to my letter I posted On the board, normally he has replied by now. I will give it a few more days then a copy goes to the RPRA And the BHW. further letter will be sent to the head of the RSPB. Then after the elections a copy to my MP So whatever the RSPB do, they will be dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. Mick

Thought this might interest,

Putman a very good old strain for the distance

Worth keeping hold of, I to had a bad training toss, lost a number of birds, low and behold a cock returned 12months later in mint condition, "some kind person had kept him" I paired him up and got him used to widowhood came steady till a 140mile race came up NW wind, pooled him up, home he came 1st club 3rd Fed 2,100 birds also won the week after.

Good fly, any pics, out of interest, what strain is it.

Yes as far as I can remember, beat me into second place in an open 2 bird race from Rennes Many moons ago

A Lancashire flyer called Harold Hart raced ebony, Krauth, Louella as stated crossed them as there are very few Krauths about

Easy way to answer your questions is, keep the birds in till evening and see how they fly, don't over feed, regular times if possible x2 when letting out, myself I added 50% barley to their feed till two days before they are basketed. Hope this helps

Thank you for your e-mail. I am somewhat perplexed at some of the things you have stated in your e-mails to me. As my wife and I are bird and animal lovers we are somewhat baffled by your comment, “but by feeding birds in the garden you automatically attract all birds closer to view and as a result you will see nature in it rawest form". So what you are telling use don't feed the birds as we will attract BOP. Yet we see adverts telling people to feed birds over the winter. Just to remind you, the Sparrow hawk attack we witnessed happened in the middle of the road You say “In the British Isles peregrines do not migrate, and the majority stay within 100 km of their birthplace. Then how do you account for the fact they are now living in towns and cities when you stated “areas where cliff-ledges, quarry faces, crags, or sea-cliffs are available. Recently, they have started To use man-made constructions, especially tall buildings This is a contradiction in terms if ever there was one. Birds of prey is now becoming a pest and a nuisance, see attached copy of a local Towns news paper. The Tax payer will have to foot the bill for the repairs, or are the RSPB going to contribute towards The repairs, after all your organisation are the ones that are protecting this bird so surely you have to accept some responsibility. This is a comment I copied off a forum of a genuine bird lover. I notice that they are saying that the White Tailed Eagle has returned to Scotland. NO. They brought it there. Now there are farmers going out of business because this bird is taking their lambs. Not weak or small lambs, big robust healthy lambs. These felons should be removed so that the situation can go back to how it has been for hundreds of years. And the RSPB should be made to compensate the Farmers for their losses. When they introduced the wolf to Northern America the agreement was that if it killed livestock there had to be compensation. The same should apply in the case of the White Tailed Eagle. I cannot see why they have to mess about with things that do not need to be changed. If they stuck to protecting birds properly, I am sure we would all appreciate what they are doing. Now they are very likely to start a war. I say this because there are a lot of people who are not going to sit back and allow the RSPB to dictate how they are going to live. British People have always fought against unjust laws and I think it is going to happen again. I also looked at one of your links of the RSPB web site; I see that you show a video of some kind Of trap to catch BOP as propaganda to support better protection for BOP. Firstly I do not support any form of trapping, poisoning, shooting, baiting of any type of animal Cruelty, but the question must be asked why anyone would want to do such an act, to achieve What, or to gain! Why have the RSPB not show a fair and balanced view seeing both sides of the story, why don’t the RSPB show the death and destruction caused by birds of prey how they have cost Animal and bird owners thousands of pounds each year, if this type propaganda was to be show on the TV as a documentary the British Broadcasting Authority would have something to say about the biasness of it. I also ask again, why are there forums and discussion groups, organised petitions! From all walks of life who see the other side of the coin, joining together to get a change in the law Or to ask this Government for help, or are all these people wrong and the RSPB is 100% right In what they are doing. To finalise a piece of British History for you, I had the great privilege to meet a man who Trained messenger pigeons during the war, his efforts and that of the pigeons help to save many an Allied lives, they returned home shot at, one bird had and eye missing and still returned home In all; there were 32 Dicken medals given out to pigeons that is the human equivalent of the VC. One great I must not miss, Cher Ami. He was on his last mission when he was shot through the breast by enemy fire and still managed to reach home. He had one of his legs shattered. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for his heroism and died as a result from his battle wounds in 1919. But do you know what their biggest obstacle was on getting those great birds back to England with those vital messages; THE PERAGRINE FALCON and the Government of the day had the foresight To have these killers removed to give them a fighting chance on getting home. There for your comments that an independent study shows that 14% killed to predation is out of date and inaccurate. Quote; by 1981 and by 1991 most populations were higher than ever before recorded, though not in north and west Scotland (Crick & Ratcliffe 1995). Finally, A list of the 46 bird species and one mammal found at Derby Cathedral since 2005, here it is: mallard - teal - gadwall - ruddy & tufted ducks woodcock - common & jack snipe - dunlin - knot redshank - lapwing - golden plover bar & black tailed godwit - whimbrel - turnstone quail - water rail - little grebe - moorhen common & arctic tern - black headed gull jay - jackdaw - crow - magpie - pied wagtail swift - little owl - fieldfare - redwing - blackbird song & mistle thrush - great spotted woodpecker robin - skylark - chaffinch - goldfinch - starling wood pigeon - feral pigeon - collared dove - waxwing and one brown rat! Please can you tell me what the RSPB are doing to protect the above birds or don’t they matter If so, why not. My calculations are if there are 1,402 pairs of peregrines and goodness knows how many pairs of Sparrow hawks that equates to, 64,492 deaths by Peregrines alone, based on the Above figures. I respectfully request that you and the RSPB as a whole need to have a serious look at the amount Of Birds of prey that are prevalent in this country before there rest of the general public wake to the fact that they no longer See small birds in their gardens because of the RSPB few who think it’s great to watch a bird eaten alive by These killers, by the way, this type of sport is greatly frowned upon by the majority in this country. Hope you all enjoy the read even if its long winded

Some years ago I started take an interest in eye sign, I bought the books and the videos. Then I met a man who had produced a video about eye sign and wing theory and also the throat. I said to this man I enjoyed watching your video, his reply was "it was a load of rubbish" and then walked off. What got me by that statement was, he had made a video, used his name and reputation to sell it, but did not believe any of it. From that day on I had no respect for him. Myself I have my own thoughts and opinions on selecting birds for breeding, its' up to the individual as to what they want to believe. An old maxim a great flyer called Jack Smith of Lostock said to me way back when I was a young man was. You can buy the pigeon but you cannot buy the man.

I read 32 on your link, but hey who's counting