Council hawks fail to stop the pigeons

5 days ago

Paul MoseleyNorfolk political reporter

News image — Despite the threat of birds of prey, pigeons have maintained a strong presence at Norwich Market

Paul Moseley/BBC A group of pigeons sitting on top of a snow-covered wall. In the background is Norwich Market. — Despite the threat of birds of prey, pigeons have maintained a strong presence at Norwich Market

A project using hawks to scare birds away from a city marketplace has been put on hold because people insist on feeding the pigeons.

Norwich City Council introduced the birds of prey because of regular complaints from traders about pigeons and gulls.

But council cabinet member Carli Harper said the scheme had been "paused" because some people had been giving the pigeons "industrial amounts of bird feed".

The council's attempts to frighten off the birds have been controversial, with more than 2,000 people backing a petition for them to be given a nesting place in a nearby park.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC A Harris's hawk – a bird with mostly brown feathers and a yellow and black, curved, sharp beak. — Hazel is one of the Harris's hawks used to try to scare away other birds

Pigeons have been a problem for traders at Norwich Market for years, with many considering them to be a nuisance and a health risk.

To try to combat them, the Labour-run council hired pest control falconers to patrol the area on a trial basis from the end of November.

The idea was that the sight of their Harris's hawks, which are powerful birds of prey, would frighten the pigeons away.

However, that sparked a backlash, leading to a petition and people regularly bringing bird food to spread in the Memorial Gardens at the top of the market.

While Harper insisted the move by the council was "pro-market" rather than "anti-pigeon", she said the hawk trial was being halted.

"Unfortunately, a handful of individuals have fed the pigeons using industrial amounts of bird feed," she said.

"As a result, we have now paused the programme to assess our enforcement options to prevent this occurring again."

Paul Moseley/BBC Niall Adams is wearing a woolly beanie hat, sunglasses and several layers of clothes, including a blue jacket and a grey hoodie. A pigeon is perched on his right arm as he stands in a snow-covered street. — Niall Adams insisted pigeons were "undervalued members of society"

When the BBC visited the market, three people separately turned up with bags of bird seed in the space of 15 minutes.

One of them, Niall Adams, rejected the idea that "industrial amounts" of food were being taken to the area, and said the pigeon supporters were being "vilified" by the council.

"'Industrial' implies that we are bringing a forklift with tonnes of bird feed when in reality each person probably brings about half a kilo," he explained.

Mr Adams, who said he fed the pigeons several times a week, added he was not worried about the threat of action from the council.

"I think if you're suggesting you're going to fine people for feeding pigeons, people will do it anyway – they'll [just] do it more secretively," he said.

"People who come here in freezing weather to feed them are thinking about the pigeons, who are stuck out here 24/7 without anywhere else to go and without any proper food."

Paul Moseley/BBC At the top of the picture are the silhouettes of pigeons flying against a blue and white sky. Beneath them are the multi-coloured tops of the stalls of Norwich Market. — Large groups of pigeons gather by the market throughout the day

Other local authorities have faced similar problems to the city council.

In 2023, Great Yarmouth Borough Council ran a social media campaign urging people to not be "gull-ible" and encourage gulls by feeding them.

Hunstanton Town Council urged tourists to keep their food to themselves and arranged for bins to be emptied earlier so birds could not raid them.

And in Lowestoft, East Suffolk Council said it had to carry out "regular pressure washing of public areas" to deal with mess from kittiwakes and other birds.

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