BOLTON'S town centre pigeons are high in the "pecking order" when it comes to causing a health hazard.

And kind-hearted members of the public who constantly feed the birds are putting the town's environmental health officers in a flap.

Their concerns were echoed at a major urban bird conference, hosted this week by the Tidy Britain Group.

The Bill for protecting buildings and cleaning up the mess left by Britain's pigeon and gull population is running to millions of pounds according to the environmental group.

And the group adds that by feeding the birds, members of the public are responsible for a spiralling, over-fed and lazy urban bird population, whose droppings are damaging statues and monuments.

The boom in the pigeon population has led not only to a headache for those whose job it is to clean up after them, but is creating a public hygiene problem.

Pigeons roosting in large numbers can pose a minor health risk, while food left out for the birds can also attract rats.

Mr Stephen Maslivec, Bolton's environmental protection manager, said: "If we cut the food supply from the public off, the pigeon population will naturally control itself."

He added that in the past Bolton had taken a number of measures to deal with the growing community of pigeons, but none were as effective in the long term as stopping the food supply from the public.

He said: "When the Town Hall building services manager feels it is becoming too difficult a problem keeping the buildings clean, he contacts us and we have to find ways to control the situation.

Culling

"We have tried culling, but it is not the answer. If anything, it is costly to do it, but also we find that within no time the population comes back - and even stronger."

The environmental health department has also used netting on stretches of the Town Hall building which prevents nesting.

In addition, strong lights have been used in the past to target starlings which used to congregate in large numbers in the town.

Mr Maslivec said: "The lights interfere with the sleeping patterns, but they do not affect pigeons as they have double eyelids and once they close their eyes the light does not penetrate."

Although Bolton officers, together with environmental departments throughout the rest of the country, are trying to discourage people from feeding the pigeons, it is highly unlikely anyone will be arrested for ignoring advice.

Mr Maslivec said: "If we were stretching a point people could be prosecuted for littering the place. There have been one or two cases elsewhere in the country of people being prosecuted for consistently ignoring warnings about feeding the pigeons. But those were extreme cases."

Tidy Britain Group director general, Prof Graham Ashworth, said: "Our message is simply this: 'Don't feed pigeons or gulls. It is taking money from the public purse, damaging historic monuments and buildings, and most importantly creating an unnaturally high urban bird population - reliant on human beings and not nature for their food.

"This is a problem created by people. And it is a problem only people can solve."

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