Steven, I read the response. I've had similar reactions from people who think there's a pair nesting on the town hall and a different pair on the parish church. They can't seem to realise they're the same birds. I suspect this is the case with the birds the letter writer refers to. I've seen the town centre birds out over Bury rd and over St Helens road. When you watch them from the car park roof you realise the wide area they cover. If they are so well informed why are they revealing nest sites in the local paper!! It seems now that if anyone sees a Peregrine on a building it's breeding there.
Did anybody see the response to Deans letter in thursdays bolton news. He seemed to have a lot of knowledge about peregrine whereabouts, if you get my drift. he/she was unnamed to
How many known breeding peregrine pairs are there in greater manchester?
Where are all these Do-Gooders when idiots raid nests of birds "in their natural habitat in the wild, not in a town centre" for their eggs and chicks and the constant persecution by game-keepers to protect thier precious gamebirds.
These people don't live in the real world and are oblivious to what goes on "in the wild". People think that egg collecting was something that small boys did years ago. Unfortunately, it is still rife and the sentences handed out by the courts to the minority that are caught are a joke!
We apparentley live in a civilised society where everybody has rights. What right has a person got to raid the nest of a helpless bird and take eggs or young.
Lets make one thing absolutely clear: the peregrine falcons were neither introduced nor installed by the council to control the pigeon population.
They were not introduced FULL STOP.
They arrived of their own free will. Nest trays were placed on the Town Hall and Parish church purely to encourage the birds to nest in an accessible, safe place so that they could be monitored and the young birds ringed easily for future study.
The reason for this is the peregrine falcon is a Schedule 1 listed bird, which means it is under threat and protected by the law. If the trays hadnt been put in place the birds would have found a suitable ledge on another building which could have resulted in them being in danger.
Being at the top of the food chain, peregrines need a thriving population of prey items around them to breed. The fact that the birds are here shows that the bird population in Bolton is in a very healthy state. If the bird population declines significantly there isnt enough food to sustain the predator so the predator moves on. That is the way nature works.
As for concerns over peregrines taking our rarer, endangered birds, do you know what the rarest, most endangered bird in the Bolton area is? YES, the peregrine falcon, 1 breeding pair, you cant get much rarer than that!
Peregrines are opportunist hunters; they dont actively seek out rare birds. Reports of a woodpecker corpse found near the nest are likely true. However, lets not forget that Woodpeckers regularly raid the nests of hole nesting woodland birds such as blue tits and far rarer birds like pied flycatchers and crested tits. This was shown clearly on the BBC Springwatch show earlier this year.
Whilst peregrines do take town centre feral pigeons, they also hunt over quite a large part of the surrounding area where their main prey is woodpigeons. I know this because I watch them everyday. The woodpigeon population has risen considerably in urban and suburban areas in recent years. This has enabled the peregrine to move into town centres to breed. The increase in one species has encouraged the increase in another predatory species. This then keeps the woodpigeon population in check. This is how nature works.
We cant pick and choose which parts of nature we like and dislike, we have to accept it all.
The bird population in Bolton is not in any danger of being wiped out by the peregrines. Would the RSPB have been on the town hall square encouraging people to have a look if that were the case? No, they would have been shouting save all the other birds.
So please enjoy our peregrine falcons, they are magnificent creatures. We are very lucky to have such a rare and endangered bird in our town.
If anyone has a scanned copy of the letter then please let me know as I'd be interested in posting it on the website for us all to see (I haven't seen it yet), unless you've a copy kept on your computer Dean that you could cut and paste into a post on here for us?
Agreed Ian, one carefully worded thought out letter is on it's way to the paper.
Dean, your letter is in the BEN this morning and its a great letter! Well said that man and it should silence the clueless less informed people of Bolton.
Agreed Ian, one carefully worded thought out letter is on it's way to the paper.
I know we shouldn't indulge these people too much but here's one from todays paper which just made me laugh
"Has anyone noticed how eerie and soulless Bolton town centre has become since the birds of prey were installed on the town hall? These birds should be in their natural habitat in the wild, not in a town centre, used as a flying gestapo to control pigeons"
Oh dear
Dean.
I think the writer must be blind as well as deaf. I never saw or heard so many goldfinches and bluetits in a town centre as well as the usual chorus from the starlings AND the "intelligent" low flying pigeons as I did in Bolton! I think the pigeon fanciers ought to be more consitent with their facts. Also whilst photographing the peregrines on the church I had a blackbird and robin sunbathe at my feet . I bet with meal worms it will eat out your hands it is so tame.
Edit: the peregrine juv that was taken into care, is ,from my observation , doing well. She was circling the sky with an adult and I later saw her tucking into a late evening meal.
Agreed Ian, one carefully worded thought out letter is on it's way to the paper.
I know we shouldn't indulge these people too much but here's one from todays paper which just made me laugh
"Has anyone noticed how eerie and soulless Bolton town centre has become since the birds of prey were installed on the town hall? These birds should be in their natural habitat in the wild, not in a town centre, used as a flying gestapo to control pigeons"
i think there's birders out there who want to, will and indeed should reply to that letter if they feel passionate enough. The rspb's response should there be one (doubtful) will no doubt be restrained and lack the passion that these birds deserve and that local birders have built up for them, so if you feel the need, go for it, put pen to paper, finger to keyboard and get your opinion across.
The Manchester Evening News had similar letter (s) when they first bred there. I really haven't time or inclination to reply to them - let the RSPB deal with them!
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
i'd be suprised if we expected anything less from those desperately mis informed sections of the community, nor the papers which will pretty much print anything without any prior investigation into its worth. The only thing now is to draught a fully informed, carefully thought out and correct reply, further discussion is purely a waste of breath, the majority of the community wouldn't agree with the original printed letter i'm sure of that
Here's a copy of a letter which appeared i today's Bolton News....
FALCONS DON'T BELONG IN TOWN CENTRE...
This year, as many will be aware, peregrine falcons(falco peregrinus) bred on Bolton town hall.
Has the council encouraged this by installing man-made nests at sites in the borough, in the belief that they would be a cost-effective way of reducing our feral pigeon(Columbia livia type) population. If so, we should look at the habits of the feral pigeon. Firstly, they are generally covered in all manner of filth and pollution, rendering them unpalatable to most predators. Town pigeons mostly forage on the pavement, within a short distance of their nest/roost, seldom flying high enough for a falcon to dive at.
Feral pigeons are intelligent. They soon change their behaviour patterns in order to stay safe, leaving the peregrines to hunt other birds, such as those we try to attract to our parks and reserves, including rare and endangered species.
When introduced into towns and cities, peregrines are known to kill large numbers of domestic pigeons, ruining the sport of our counties many pigeon fanciers, who are tax payers trying to enjoy their hobby.
After all, how would the average pet lover feel if a predator was introduced to threaten their beloved cats and dogs?
If birds of prey were the answer to the feral pigeon problem, surely the less fussy sparrowhawk(aspitter nicus), would be more suited to the task, not that i would advocate either.
All birds of prey are magnificent creatures when in their natural habitat.In the case of the peregrine it's, coastal cliffs, mountains and moor land not town centres.
All town and city councils should bear this in mind before introducing any wild creature that cannot be properly understood and conrolled.
