"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | What's wrong with woodpigeons in gardens, anyway?
|
| In moderation, nothing. The problem is that they don't have
appropriate
| predation pressure in the UK.
|
| Except by man. I eat a lot of wood pigeon :-)

With the suburbanisation of the south-east and midlands, there isn't
enough of that to be called "appropriate predation pressure" any longer.
This is precisely why we have a deer crisis, after centuries of deer
being almost endangered in the lowlands of the UK, with no reduction
whatsoever in their 'natural' predators (there being none).

Yes, I understand that. Yet here in the north wood pigeons, deer and hare
are all regarded as vermin in many places and are killed. We're lucky to
have them freely available for the table.

In the northern suburbs wood pigeons aren't enough of a pest to be a problem
for most of us. Nevertheless, when Spouse gets his air rifle ...

Mary