Tough question of survival as our garden songbirds are increasingly falling as prey

ABOUT three years ago you kindly printed a letter I wrote about the loss of our garden birds due to magpies stealing eggs and chicks and a sparrow hawk killing all our sparrows.

You then printed a response from the local homing pigeon club, who were suffering bird losses which they were sure were down to hawk attacks.

I did also write to the RSPB with my concerns but they wrote back dismissing my thoughts and blaming changes in farming practices and loss of habitat. They had obviously not checked my post code, because we all know early cut silage, cereal crops, pest spraying and ripping out hedges do not happen here in the Pennines. My wife and I cancelled our membership.

What has prompted me to write in again was a feature on the BBC’s One Show on October 16. It glorified the killing success of a pair of peregrine falcons who lived on a cathedral. They examined the remains of the birds they had killed and these included estuary and woodland birds - odd as this city was far inland. They deduced that the night lights of the city allowed these hawks to kill birds at night whilst they migrate. This the One Show applauded - it came across as a success for our bird life!

Continued:  http://www.hebdenbridgetimes.co.uk/community/letters/tough-question-of-survival-as-our-garden-songbirds-are-increasingly-falling-as-prey-1-5086134