I woke up to receive this letter on my door mat this morning:
Doesn't seem very neighbourly to go straight to writing a letter and not discussing the matter face to face, also the tone that they seem to almost demand I totally stop feeding the wild birds within the month. However I did email them back and wait a response to my terse email:
Dear Neighbours,
I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that the UK has no specific law prohibiting the feeding of wild birds, take this City of Westminster web page address as my point and case:
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/environment/yourstreets/bird-feeding-in-westminster/
Their are also no covenants within the title deeds prohibiting bird feeding.
At present the bird feeding in my Garden hasn’t encouraged a single Feral Pigeon (Rock Dove) into the garden, other than the occasional Wood Pigeon, nor does the feeding encourage rat or mice into the garden. Our garden is covered by CCTV and a wildlife camera trap is put out most evenings. The only recorded visitors are Cats and Hedgehogs. While I understand your tenants my find it annoying it doesn’t constitute a severe nuisance.
While I can understand your concerns on health grounds, however unfounded and concentrated on one particular species. If you were to consider all the possible health concerns you could come across in the Garden you would never leave the house. My I suggest the following precautions:
http://www.globaleffects.com/C_pages/Rental/Wardrobe/Costumes/BioHazard/Futuristic/BioHsuit721_hi.jpg
Hedgehog, Cats and Dogs can pick up ticks that could drop off in your garden and then attach to people, Ticks can carry Lyme disease. Cats and Dogs can also carry Toxocariasis (amongst many other diseases) which can result in blindness in children. You might consider yourself safe from the above as your Cat and Dog are regularly wormed. However XXXXX village has a particular problem with Feral Cats that most likely won’t get this treatment.
Your approach is neither subtle nor amicable/neighbourly and only offers prohibition as the unreasonable resolution, faced with only one negative option the response would be to decline your offered resolution. I will suggest that the birds can be more numerous when mealworms or suet pellets are put out on the table feeders, possible more so during breeding season, when the birds are feeding chicks. Other than these occasions the birds in the garden aren’t that numerous. I will suggest that my wife and I don’t put out the aforementioned food types during the day, on the following occasions; weekends and any other day you suggest during the week when your tenants like to dry washing (as we put mealworms out for the Hedgehogs at night, and any residual is quickly polished off in the dawn by birds, outside any reasonable time for drying laundry). However I wouldn’t concede to a blanket ban on these foods as they are vital to wild birds when feeding and rearing chicks. Due to the drastic drop in many wild bird populations many species need all the help they can get:
http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?cate=__13906
The above suggestion is an amicable compromise as opposed to a dictated unreasonable resolution of prohibition, which you were most likely aware would not be acceptable to a wildlife loving household, and my opinion is this letter is possibly for the soul purpose for evidence for legal action/council complaint.
I would also like to take this opportunity to educate you on the law regarding wild birds, namely The Wildlife and Countryside act 1981, which amongst other things states the following:
“All birds, their nests and eggs are protected by law and it is thus an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb any wild bird while it is nest building, or at a nest containing eggs or young, or disturb the dependant young of such a bird”
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/section/1
Therefore your request to stop nesting the birds is in direct contradiction of the aforementioned legislation and consequently unlawful. Any such action observed being undertaken by your tenants will be reported to the relevant authorities for appropriate action.
Also on the subject of the wire on my fence, it would have been neighbourly to request/obtain permission to alter my property and affix this wire (or anything else) prior to its installation, I could have then informed you it is a pointless measure, wire on the fence is only a deterrent for larger/heavy birds like pigeons and only if installed correctly and yours isn’t. Spikes along the top of the fence would possibly be more successful:
http://www.birdstop.co.uk/starling_and_sparrow_spikes_stainless_steel._per_600mm_strip.asp
I’d even buy and install these on my fence adjoining your garden. So the birds don’t poop on my fence that faces your garden, in an attempt to find a compromise. See Frequently ask question number 5 from top of page:
http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html
I look forward to discussing a possible reasonable compromise to your issue. However your suggested prohibition on feeding birds in my garden is both offensive and an unreasonable course of action.
Regards
Well researched and well said
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/
Well done! Stick up for yourself and well responded!!! "In your face" springs to mind lol.....
Cheers, Jason
That's a brilliant letter. You should start a business writing letters for people.
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Nice one Brit_FK, don't you just wish you could get rid of some neighbours? I live next to a mini Alton Towers!
If I'd received a letter like that I would probably put a load of bread on our shed roof and watch the neighbours cringe as a load of herring and lesser black-backed gulls all descend at once. I generally don't encourage gulls but some neighbours totally deserve to be inconvenienced!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Good informative letter.Hope the landlord responds and sends you some bird seed.
John
I think you took the best approach - firm, informative, but at the same time offering a little compromise.
Clare Bailey said: If I'd received a letter like that I would probably put a load of bread on our shed roof and watch the neighbours cringe as a load of herring and lesser black-backed gulls all descend at once. I generally don't encourage gulls but some neighbours totally deserve to be inconvenienced!
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Well I got a response eventually, much along the lines I expected:
Dear Mr
Without prejudice to your email of the 9th May to which I have given consideration to, I understand with further clarity that your ornithology interest is overtly carried on at your rear garden adjacent to mine with enthusiasm and conviction. I am of similar conviction that your actions are causing a private nuisance as it stands now however I appreciate you taking the time and trouble to offer a possible reasonable compromise and your offer of real action is valued and is most welcome. Thank you.
To move positively forward please can you look to help me and the tenants enjoy my land with the following suggested reduction and compensation measures part indicated from your email.
Employ an outside cleaner at your expense for the rear garden paths doors windows garden furniture and fencing on a weekly basis please or at least initially until the suggested reduction measures are proven effective.
Agree to reasonably compensate financially my tenants for their specific spoilt food through bird droppings landing in meals as has already occurred (eg BBq outdoor eating), throughout the future summer months or until the suggested reduction measures are proven effective
Agree to reasonably compensate financially my tenants for their specific spoilt laundry through bird droppings landing on washing as has already occurred, throughout the future summer months or until the suggested reduction measures are proven effective.
Reduce the feeding and type of foods over weekends and public holidays.
Look to replace all table feeding with hanging feeders and to ensure no food is ground spilled by use of trays as I understand this is a recommendation from enthusiast websites that is supposed to work well.
I apologise for my incorrect understanding on the fence wire and I will have this removed this week. Your offer of spikes is accepted instead and I would appreciate this being in place as soon as possible as indeed would anything else you could do now to reduce the general bird mess please, especially when use of my garden in the summer is wanting to be enjoyed more fully.
There seems to be a particular problem from what appears to be man made nesting boxes in your roof eves. Where these are situated they indirectly cause bird flight directly over my garden resulting in further mess. Can you look to an alternative solution there please for the longer term. Thank you.
I understand your family enjoy wildlife and I have no wish to upset that. From your reply I note that you do have an appreciation of the nuisance at present to me and I sincerely hope that reasonableness will prevail by us both so that quiet enjoyment can be had by all.
Please can you reply to inform me of your intentions and timescales.
Thank you.
Your sincerely
My response to the above:
XXXXX,
Again as per my previous email I point out feeding birds in your own garden is not against the law, neither do I claim ownership of the wild birds and thus can’t be held accountable for the actions of said wild birds. Much in the same way I clean up after your Phoebe depositing her lovely cat eggs, made considerably easier for her now I’ve made a hole in the fence to allow easier ingress for hedgehogs, the unfortunate side effect was Phoebe no longer had to put the same amount of effort into gaining access to my garden, those few extra ounces were making all the difference prior to the aforementioned hole. I would understand your position on requesting payment for cleaning. If I was the Wicked Witch of the West and was despatching flying monkeys from my property on a regular basis to carry out my evil will and they were dropping monkey eggs all over your garden (and thus could clearly show it was down to my monkeys). I would also assume the accompanying “fly my pretties” would also get annoying after a time. It would also make more sense if you didn’t have birds nesting in your own roof. I think I spotted at least one confirmed nest if not two in your own roof therefore 5 (2 adults 3 chicks) or 10 birds (4 adults 6 chicks) which will mean they are going back and forward from the nest 50 (1 nest) to 100 (2 nests) times a day to feed the chicks, therefore you’ll realise the potential for bird poop from both the adults and the chicks. Unfortunately the adult birds tend to be quite keen on dropping the chicks poop from their beak almost immediately after leaving the nest. Obviously this could possibly be the main culprit for the bird poop in your garden, and have nothing to do with my bird feeders whatsoever. This is what my wife noted when she was outside when you referred to the one incident of bird poop dropping in food (as she overheard the incident and noted the bird that did the deed), which actually came from the nest(s) in your roof. This obviously doesn’t take into account the other nest in the surrounding houses. But it’s good to see you’re picking me as the scapegoat for your issues, with nests in your roof, even making up imaginary birds in an unoccupied nest (at present).
The particular problem from my House Martin nest box is nil, as at present it is unoccupied, I’m in fact flabbergasted that you’ve seen birds flying in and out of it? Also House Martins can build their own nests out of mud on your house in any place they please and you would be powerless to stop them in the building process as this would be an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act as previously mentioned in my earlier email, it would be unfortunate if they picked your house for nesting, but you could do nothing about the House Martins much like you can’t with the Sparrows currently raising young in your roof.
In light of my comments and arguments above I will decline giving any financial compensation whatsoever, as it’s not even proven the wild birds visiting my garden are responsible nor do I own or am responsible for them (unlike your cat). It could very well be the birds nesting in your roof, or any of the many House Martins, Swallows or Swifts that are ever present above, and around the village that are flying around for insects, along with any other birds transiting the area. Maybe your choice of residents was poor when buying a house in a village with a well established wild bird population in a semi rural location, given your evident extreme distaste for nature. I’m actually surprised you have pets! Most people would find birds visiting the Garden endearing, and wouldn’t mind the occasional nuisance of having to wash one or two items of clothing again, and one incident of a spoiled plate of food due to a bird leaving a nest in your roof is insignificant.
I will however as previously indicated and when it arrives after purchasing tonight fit the bird spikes to my fence adjoining your garden, once the wire and nails are removed and the spikes are delivered. I will as previously stated refrain from putting out the food (meal worms and suet pellets) at Weekends and Bank Holidays (plus two other days during the week if you wish, but you’ll have to inform), that can lead to a short term increase in birds in the garden (until the food has gone). I will not be getting rid of the table feeder, but will limit putting the food on the table that can lead to an increase in birds in the short term as previously mentioned. I will also not be removing or relocating the House Martin nest, as said before they can build nests wherever they want, thus the nest is intentional to encourage them to that nest away from my patio, as if not present they could build in a location I didn’t want and thus wouldn’t be able to do anything about and they still could.
I am however open to further discourse on the subject, partly out of curiosity on what else you will come up/out with.
Kind Regards