The BBC Countryfile programme shown last Sunday had a piece on the Peregrine Falcon and how the numbers had increased dramaticaly in recent years and were now to be seen in many of our cities, often nesting high up on Churches and Cathedrals.
It was stated that the numbers had declined to almost nothing at one time and that this was especially so during WW2 when they were blamed for killing the Pigeons that were being used to carry messages for the RAF.
I find this suggestion to be extremely unlikely but is it true?
Richard
By: Resmoroh - 2nd September 2013 at 15:40
I regret that the towers here at Tottering Towers are not tall enough for peregrines to nest. If they were they might appear on LHR radar! But I would be grateful for even a few ‘Guest Appearances’ by the odd peregrine to discourage them wood pigeons! With onions under a short-crust pastry, with madeira gravy, is the best for pigeons!!
Resmoroh
By: antoni - 2nd September 2013 at 14:26
Not so much the RAF as the UK Government. It should be noted that carrier pigeons were not only carried in RAF aircraft (not, I think, by the Spitfires in the program) but were also used by agents in occupied Europe.
During both world wars the killing of peregrines was promoted by the Government in order to protect carrier pigeons resulting in a severe reduction in numbers (about 600 were killed out of a population of 700 pairs). This was mostly along the south coast. Well away from the south coast the wars actually helped the peregrine as there was a reduction in hunting game.
In the 1950s and 1960s the population, along with other birds of prey, was severely affected by the use of organochloride pesticides, i.e., DDT.
The present population is estimated at about 1,400 breeding pairs, twice what it was in the 1930s when persecution by gamekeepers was normal. Now the pigeon fanciers are lobbying to ‘control’ the peregrine population again.
A touch of irony here, not easy being a pigeon.
By: avion ancien - 2nd September 2013 at 14:18
A number of years ago the programme featured a piece on a Staffordshire hunt. I had a friend who rode with that hunt. I mentioned the programme to her. She said that the filming of the piece was embarrassing. At that time, I believe, Countryfile was produced at BBC Pebble Mill. She said that the team from there who turned up evidently were urban dwellers with little knowledge of the country and even less of country pursuits and required spoon feeding to enable them to produce something approaching half credible. Thus it appears that even though the production location may have changed, since that time, not much else has. But then, I suppose the media we get is the media we deserve!
By: charliehunt - 2nd September 2013 at 14:10
“Like Magistrates and Judges it is one of those things sent to try us!!!” It has become just another BBC lightweight magazine programme with irritating presenters and generally unwatchable.
By: Resmoroh - 2nd September 2013 at 13:41
Moggy, you may well be right. I go along with the DDT stuff (read the book “And No Birds Sing”). Countryfile, years ago, used to be a technically informative programme about country matters and was, therefore, very enjoyable. Nowadays, though, it is mostly a vehicle for the airing of any number of political views some of which are strange (by people ditto). The ‘Adam’s Farm’ section is what it should be about, but that section gets smaller and smaller – viz, last Sunday when it was absent. Blaming anything on the RAF was/is always good fun for the Great Unwashed. Like Magistrates and Judges it is one of those things sent to try us!!!
HTH
Resmoroh
By: Moggy C - 2nd September 2013 at 12:20
Or maybe just the opposite
http://strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us/Nazi%20Pigeon.htm
The major decline was caused by pesticides, particularly DDT, not the actions of the RAF
Moggy
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September 2, 2013 at 11:56 am