birds of prey ,,

[fred smyth]

its said that  b o p need to get 2 birds a day to keep there young alive,

what would happen if all the pigeon organisation,s  in the uk and Ireland got to gather  , picked a date to start  and asked all there members  to close there lofts up for 2 weeks  a complete lock down no birds flying at all for 2 weeks  , were would the bop go to get there food , would this have any affect on them ,

just an idea .

[Guest HEATHLOFTS]

its said that  b o p need to get 2 birds a day to keep there young alive,

what would happen if all the pigeon organisation,s  in the uk and Ireland got to gather  , picked a date to start  and asked all there members  to close there lofts up for 2 weeks  a complete lock down no birds flying at all for 2 weeks  , were would the bop go to get there food , would this have any affect on them ,

just an idea .

 

yh but think of all the free flying dovecotes etc

[Guest Owen]

What you have sugested has happened here near Pontypool. All the Racing Pigeons were kept in for weeks because the Peregrine Falcons were taking them. It was not a question of coming to an agreement to keep them in, it was that we could not let them out.

It had no affect on the Peregrines ay all. They were seen taking birds like Jackdaws, Starlings and Street Pigeons.

Ok, we did not do it while they were breeding, but as it turned out they were able to live quite comfortably without the Racing Pigeons. And as soon as the Racing Pigeons were released for exercise, there they were at them again.

Your idea sounds fine, but I can assure you it is a total waste of time.

If you want to control BOP populations, you would have to take direct action, or pack in keeping pigeons that fly outside in the air.

[lawrie]

they will find another food source. good idea but we fanciers will never win

[Guest bigda]

they will find another food source. good idea but we fanciers will never win

 

we will win,  if we can   all agree on  a date  for   national  pigeon day  every year.  we have the technology

[Guest Owen]

I think we can win as long as we do not go in forty differant directions at once. At the moment the best bet is to suport Richard and to follow Mealy Cock's example and write to the RSPB, your MP, and anybody else you can think of.

 

We have to change the image of Pigeon Fanciers and of Racing Pigeons. At this time we Fanciers are all thugs, hell bent of killing protected birds and our birds are flying rats, ridden with life threatening diseases. There is no doubt that we have a big job to change these images, but it can be done.

 

We could do with a code of conduct to help us control some of the idiots we have involved with us. You all know what I mean. The clowns who refuse to treat the Public with respect when a stray is reported, for starters. Then there is the business of reporting our activities in a good light. The results of the races should automatically be displayed on the Sports Pages in the local papers. And if possible the odd photo and report would do wonders.

 

If it is winning you want, you first have to join the fight and not leave everything to everybody else. I have never found the sugestions that involve others to carry out actions, very atractive to me. My own philosophy has always been to get stuck in and take the fight to the opposition. And I never look at these situations as battles, to me they are always wars. So if I loose the odd battle it is of no consequence, I will be back and fight harder on the next engagement.

[Novice]

I agree there are many ways to tackle this problem and we must continue with all of them.

BOP's will never be controlled until the song birds are almost extinct. When this happens the RSPB will act to save then which we all know means controlling BOP.

As fanciers we can assist nature to reach this natural conclusion by denying BOP the food they require at key times of the year by altering our breeding and racing schedules.

When denied the staple food of pigeon they will turn their attention on other sources of food till that source becomes endangered.

This can be managed but must be co-ordinated at Union level for approximately 3 years till we start to see results.

We will not have fewer races because of this but we will a shorter season with old and young bird races on the same day.

There are many benefits to such a plan for example decreased training costs as old an young could be trained together.

I won't add any further details at this point in time.    

[gulkie]

all animals breed to the time of year that there is an abundance of food for

their young, if we change our season so will they.i agree with all ur ideas

but it will take more than keeping our birds in for a week.

[budgie]

Try changing your daily rountine its not ideal but it helps.

[Mealy Cock]

I agree there are many ways to tackle this problem and we must continue with all of them.

BOP's will never be controlled until the song birds are almost extinct. When this happens the RSPB will act to save then which we all know means controlling BOP.

As fanciers we can assist nature to reach this natural conclusion by denying BOP the food they require at key times of the year by altering our breeding and racing schedules.

When denied the staple food of pigeon they will turn their attention on other sources of food till that source becomes endangered.

This can be managed but must be co-ordinated at Union level for approximately 3 years till we start to see results.

We will not have fewer races because of this but we will a shorter season with old and young bird races on the same day.

There are many benefits to such a plan for example decreased training costs as old an young could be trained together.

I won't add any further details at this point in time.    

 

It would take a concerted effort by all, all the Unions should get involved, public awareness is one factor, myself I have written to 3 news papers that have had reports on Peregrines and the untruths the RSPB write.

 

I have also written to Bolton Council over and article about damage to the Parish church, one comment by Bolton council

Was they claimed they had a duty of care if Peregrines took resident on council buildings to look after them! Anyone with knowledge answer that one.

 

The case of Ant and Deck who commented that pigeons are flying rats, how many on this board have actually wrote to

The program makers as a formal complaint about their comments, you would only need to quote the 1st and 2nd world

War and how pigeons played their part.

 

Since I was a lad I have read about Peregrines in the fancy press, today many years later we have the same stories

Nothing has changed. All fanciers should take an active role and not sit back on their laurels, instead of "oh let someone else do it, Just to give a further example, last night I sent an e-mail to a group at Stockport Hospital they are bird and animal lovers, I have asked one person to contact their friends as to whether they would sign Save our song birds petition and pointed them to facebook, small things like that collectively become bigger.