I liked the pigeons in Trafalgar Square

Hi
Were these Hawks there in TRAFALGAR last year? As me&my fella visited it ourselfs & didnt no/notice them THERE? Think id cry if id seen apoor PIGEON CAUGHT by 1 of those Hawks :( Im a BIG ANIMAL LOVER you see : )

Been there a couple of years now. Must have been on a tea break while you were there :)

So do you like slugs and snails as well jacque? I can let you have them by the gross!

Funny enough iv 2 pet AFRICAN SNAILS called DOLLOP&PLUG lol& id dont hurt garden snails/slugs when i see them i just pickm up&place in my ROUGH area behind the Laurels :)

Tea Break!! Do Hawks also like the odd CUPA THEN? lol i love a nice brew MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm :D

I liked the pigeons, too. Who has to pay out all that money? Is it really necesary and where do the poor pigeons go? (I think I've got one in my garden - keeps pinching all the food off the bird table). Oh, no,sorry, he's a Wood Pigeon. Different. Bigger. Louder. Annoying.

They work for the council Spritz.

I do believe that pigeon muck can cause problems to peoples health. I don't know if it only effects some people, but the dust in pigeon muck can make people ill. Do you think that is why they are using a hawk?

Ajay - that means that it goes on the Westminster council tax - and did anyone ask the residents if they wanted a couple of Hawks on their bills? Betcha not! Anyway, why does it cost SOOO much? The handler is onto a winner, isn't he/she! Mark - the poor pigeons have been there for many years, and I don't remember reading about a big outbreak of illness, do you? I reckon that Ken doesn't like the pigeon mess, never mind the disappointment of all the children (and adult children!) who enjoy seeing the pigeons and feeding them. Away with tradition! London buses will be next, as they have fumes, then Big Ben for its noise pollution. I am not a happy bunny about this one, as you may have gathered. Too PC for me.

RE: spritzhenry's comment 14-2-08:
spritzhenry you, i'm sure, are correct re: residents of Westminster council tax - i'm sure they wouldn't choose to pay such huge sums for this. I'm not aware of any illness, but i do remember the information about the dust causing illness (not sure where i came across it now though) and can think of no other reason why the authorities would even consider paying out such sums of money for a hawk. Public health is their responsibility - Then again "If it aint broke - don't fix it!"
Everything's far too PC these days!

I've asked the opinions of my friends on a birding forum, and it seems the Harris hawks were placed around Trafalgar Square merely to scare the pigeons away, not to eat them for supper. The amount of birds which the hawks could actually catch would not make much impact on the total in that part of London.

The idea is that the presence of a predator will force the pigeons to move on to safer suburbs !

At the Wimbledon tennis tournaments, a hawk is brought in, to deter birds from flying over while matches are in progress......

..............it's one thing scoring a birdie in golf, but you wouldn't want that score at a tennis match LOL

If I learn any more about this I'll post here again.

I'll do it by email, not pigeon - post

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

My birding friends tell me that an experiment was tried using hawks over Nottingham's Old Market Square, but it didn't prove successful.

So good news, pigeons:

it looks like you'll survive, at least for the moment !