Saturday, September 01, 2012

BRIGG PIGEONS: IS IT TIME TO GET DASTARDLY?

If things go on like this, Brigg might find itself with a plague of pigeons.
There was a well-documented problem with them on two tall buildings in Wrawby Street, which steps were taken to resolve.
However, pigeons are now becoming an issue out in the suburbs. And we mean big, plump pigeons.
Leaving aside the usual health hazard of their "mess" left on buildings which prompted so many complaints in Brigg town centre, they walk on roads looking for tit-bits and seem oblivious to approaching cars (you may have seen some dead birds that have paid the price!).
They make a racket on roofs and perched on fence-posts. But, being the size they are, plump pigeons must devour a dozen sparrows-worth of available food a day. And that's the major concern.
Just wait till winter - it will be survival of the fittest and the biggest. And the pigeons will out-compete familiar garden species  and devour what little is available.
If you remember the early stages of Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, Birds, just one or two started to appear. Then people began to notice that more were about that normal.
Obviously, pigeons will never pose a threat to human life as was the case in the film, but they are a nuisance when numbers begin to get out of hand.
In the cartoon, Dick Dastardly never managed to catch the pigeon - it was too smart and adaptable. Before their numbers really begin to take off in Brigg, maybe someone in authority could consider the issue.
As I've been typing this, three more pigeons have visited our tiny back garden. Just half-an-hour earlier I nearly ran one over in St Helen's Road. Despite sounding the horn, it was too wrapped up in eating to fly off.
That's what set me thinking whether anyone else living in Brigg sees pigeons as a growing problem.
Post a comment here, if you will, or kindly email scoopfisher@aol.com
We may revisit this topic later, if it generates any interest.
And if we can get the council interested, it will be seen as quite a COO for Brigg Blog!




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