Winged Rat

[Black Pearl]

Everyone else seems to be posting them......

 

 

It was after the boys chips but was getting nowhere with all the sh*te hawks about on the quayside.

[JohnP]

It never ceases to amaze me just how many Feral Pigeons have deformed feet, they spend more time on the ground than Wood Pigeons and I think sometimes they get damage to their feet when they get tangled up in wire, fishing line and string etc. It may be some time before this works loose and falls away, the damage has been done by then though.

[annie]

Sky rat................flipping things lol....

 

I saw one yesterday that seemed to be stuck in a tree, poor thing was hanging from a branch and flapping about like mad, too high up though for anyone to do anything to help it.

[NannyFerret]

They are still Gods creatures and deserve a life.
I think the RSPCA will come out and free birds if they are tangled in a tree, Annie. Even if they are too badly injure to save, at least if it was PTS it would save them from suffering a slow death.

[FUJI]

Not wishing to start an anti pigeon/ gull argie bargie..........I am amazed by many of the folk bringing young families down to our local pool to feed the birds.........

Far too many, make it very obvious that they hate the gulls, pigeons and the Canada geese ..........they encourage their offspring to yell, wave, stamp their feet on the decking and shout in an effort to shift them.......in doing all of that, they spoil the peace of the pool for others, drive away the very birds that they claim to like whilst at the same time, making their kids as miserable as they are.

Such pity, because, being so small our pool has a whole variety of bird life, including moorhens, coots, wagtails, tree creepers, woodpeckers, herons plus the ubiquitous robin, blue tits and members if the crow family......most unusually tame, because of the intensive feeding that goes on every day.

At least four times during the last few years the pool has been surrounded by hundreds of Twitchers, eagerly seeking out a rare gull or goose blown off course during migration.

Having watched my own bird feeder very closely over long periods, I have noticed that, the smaller birds, wait their turn, or nip in underneath the radar, or they pick up all the bits scattered by the bully boys above.

Yes, gulls and pigeons can be a nuisance.......but it is usually we humans who have invaded their living space or have taken away their natural food opportunities .........there is room for us all, natural selection will do the rest.

Flower Power FUJI

[NannyFerret]

I agree whole heartedly! Fuji.

I hate to see little kids chasing pigeons in town and the parents not telling them to leave them alone.
Teaching young children to be kind to animals and birds is teaching them to be kind and compassionate adults.
It was so lovely to see one mother last week in the many that I see in town with young children, telling her child to leave the birds alone.
It's a pity that the other  mothers (and fathers) can't follow her example.

[Paul]

Good photo, thanks for sharing.

 

As for the "debate" the same is said of grey and red squirrels - that grey are vermin, but I love 'em!

 

Paul.

[VWGolf]

I went to photograph the semi-tame grey squirrels in a local park and was horrified by how many people let their dogs chase them.  Live and let live!

[ChrisLumix]

Far too many, make it very obvious that they hate the gulls, pigeons and the Canada geese ..........they encourage their offspring to yell, wave, stamp their feet on the decking and shout in an effort to shift them.......in doing all of that, they spoil the peace of the pool for others, drive away the very birds that they claim to like whilst at the same time, making their kids as miserable as they are.

Such pity, because, being so small our pool has a whole variety of bird life, including moorhens, coots, wagtails, tree creepers, woodpeckers, herons plus the ubiquitous robin, blue tits and members if the crow family......most unusually tame, because of the intensive feeding that goes on every day.

At least four times during the last few years the pool has been surrounded by hundreds of Twitchers, eagerly seeking out a rare gull or goose blown off course during migration.

 

Excuse the poor quality of this, it was taken on a Russian cheapo TLR 'Lubitel' in my second year of photography (1975), but you can probably make out, in the fading focus, the myriad of different birds in addition to the foreground Canada goose. This was Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, which attracted an enormous range of birds especially in winter, and would be godsend to today's photographers (there weren't many around in those days).

 

[Leon]

I'm not going to get into a debate here, BUT, if you look at the bigger picture is it not the fault of humans?

 

Pigeons, Gulls, rats foxes ect  have just learned to live in the area's HUMANS have turned into a tip, city centres are full of rubbish, litter discarded food ect, they have merely adapted to the situation...

[JohnP]

I'm not going to get into a debate here, BUT, if you look at the bigger picture is it not the fault of humans?

 

Pigeons, Gulls, rats foxes ect  have just learned to live in the area's HUMANS have turned into a tip, city centres are full of rubbish, litter discarded food ect, they have merely adapted to the situation...

 

Pigeons are the best example of what you are saying, they inhabit every continent on the Earth except Antarctica, generally the higher the human population the higher the number of Feral Pigeons.... just look at all the cities of the world, there are almost always Pigeons.

[Denis]

And, again like it or not , its a fact of (country) life but there used to lots of shooting on the farmland for miles around. Farmers everywhere would let us in to shoot wood pigeon to save the crops from being devastated In this locality the main crops were Pea and Beans. With the farm Stewardship scheme, and  the advent of Shooting syndicates, the ordinary shooter, as I once was, cannot obtain shooting rights on local farms at all now.

 

The syndicates formed for rough shooting ie: Pheasant, do not want other people shooting on land that they are paying the rights for. Naturally they think anyone who owns a shotgun is after their game, so the likes of us (as I once was!) lose shooting grounds we had for years and years. I shot over ground my dear old Dad shot over but a few years ago I was told that the syndicate wanted me off, even though I kept the pigeon, magpies and rooks as well as all manner of other vermin down.

 

Now this has led to one or two other things occurring. The levels of the Pigeon population have rocketed over the last 15 years. They are at a point where the huge flocks cannot sustain themselves in a particular area and they have spread more and more into the urban and suburban areas for food.

 

I know a few of you are against shooting. That is your perogative, so I will not answer to any counter arguments you put forward. Those of us born and bred in the country have a different perspective on conservation. Being a shooter does not mean we used to kill for pleasure, far from it.

 

There...that probably altered a few opinions of me

[Leon]

I agree with killing for food, I don't agree with killing for fun!!  no matter where you live or what you kill...

[Terry]

According to RSPB figures since the first Big Garden Bird Count in 1979 the Wood pigeon population has increased by 923%.

[NannyFerret]

 

 

There...that probably altered a few opinions of me

 

 

You are wrong, as we are all entitled to our opinions whether the others of us agree with them or not.

My son lives in the country and shoots. He knows that I don't like it so he doesn't talk about it as he knows that it upsets me that my own son, who I brought up to be kind to animals could wield a gun against one, but he and I have different opinions but I'm not going to fall out with him over it as I won't fall out with you.

I was a hypocrite until six months ago as I at meat that other people killed, but loved animals.

A friend used to go rabbiting on farms with his ferrets to help keep them from eating the crops and I didn't fall out with him. 

As you say, you lived in the country and it was a way of life, and I do understand that animals would die a slow death if the farmers put poison down, but I am me, and I believe that the animals were on the land before us and I couldn't kill one personally, 

I feed the birds as I think it's unkind to let them starve through the winter. I wouldn't want to die that way.