Ive given this some serious thought.

Well guys, this is not a decision I have taken lightly and for the last 6 or 7 weeks I have worked flat out. But now I have decided to call it a day on the action front.
1200 signatures was nowhere near enough.
But the support we got says it all.
Thanks to you all who have supported this action from day one, it was most appreciated. But once again we was beaten by the fancy itself.
All I can say is leave it to the unions.
Just think of yourselves and your birds.
It was a brave effort.
Thanks again.

i agree gary the fancy itself has let the petition down no one can be arsed as for unions they aint worth a toss either but well done you tried and well done to them who did suport gary them what didnt please dont moan ive read my last post on hawks

gaz i take my hat off to you for all youve tried to do for the fancy like you say mate they have let us and also themselfs down well donr for all you have done mate and well done to all that could be bothered to take the time to sign the Petition.

Cheers guys, I think fanciers may have been more receptive if we would have been asking them for money, but I was trying to prove a point. The point was you can take action without it costing the earth, web site, petition, leaflets, information, research,admin.
It cost nothing, but now guys start jingling those pound coins as you dig deep, because the next action taken you will be paying for it, without a doubt.

The SHU action cost thousands.
The trial ran from 8 January to 30 April 2009. Useable log books of observations
were returned from 23 of the original 45 lofts.
The insufficient sample of lofts that submitted observations for this trial, issues over the experimental design (which were compounded further by the small sample) and the quantity and quality of the observational data collected meant that it was impossible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the effects of the two management types on Sparrowhawk attack rates at pigeon lofts.

I see a trend forming.

Cheers anyway guys.
Nows time for mr to get stuck into my birds and loft.

gary, i agree.....you have done more than any one fancier has ever done with this petition/campaign, you searched down every avenue to try get help and information which might help with the fight.......but as you and others have said, only to be let down by all the fanciers who couldnt be bothered to sign the petition.

to be honest altho most of these charities who reciieve our donations are worthy.....im sick of seeing and hearing about it, who, out of them that recieve the donations would eve stand by the pigeon men and complain about the bops etc ? none of them........

as for the rpra and other unions, well........they have had 20 years to start up some action and only now thy have started to make the right noises, and thats probably all they are, noises...........it will just follow the same path as everything else and will be forgot about in a few months time, lets see where the action is this time next year, in my opinion it will be no further on,

well done gary for all your efforts, you did your fellow fanciers and the hobby/sport of pigeon keeping proud, lets hope mr waldrop and cronies show the same comitment........

Gaz b wrote:

Cheers guys, I think fanciers may have been more receptive if we would have been asking them for money, but I was trying to prove a point. The point was you can take action without it costing the earth, web site, petition, leaflets, information, research,admin.
It cost nothing, but now guys start jingling those pound coins as you dig deep, because the next action taken you will be paying for it, without a doubt.

The SHU action cost thousands.
The trial ran from 8 January to 30 April 2009. Useable log books of observations
were returned from 23 of the original 45 lofts.
The insufficient sample of lofts that submitted observations for this trial, issues over the experimental design (which were compounded further by the small sample) and the quantity and quality of the observational data collected meant that it was impossible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the effects of the two management types on Sparrowhawk attack rates at pigeon lofts.

I see a trend forming.

Cheers anyway guys.
Nows time for mr to get stuck into my birds and loft.

thanks and well done Gary from Richard

Cheers David and Richard and I hadn't begun.
Noises, It's been quiet for a while mate, for a deliberate reason.
They don't have a clue.
I feel that i should make a prediction here.
It's a shame I couldn't put in an envelope to be opened and read in six months time.
They just don't have a clue mate.
They should concentrate on the Sparrowhawk and leave the Peregrine out of the equation.
The peregrine have become the nations most loved bird, the biggest success story there has ever been.
Attack them and in theory you attack the whole nation of bird lovers.
Throw 25 million at it, you will get nowhere.
Churches and big buildings that desperately need funds to do much needed repairs are getting Heritage grants on the back of peregrine nesting in these buildings.
This speaks for itself.
Take on the church and the Heritage societies, you will get nowhere.
When the unions take action, they have to pay attention to detail, and exploit the finer points. Because every failed action is a string to the RSPB's bow and they will use these statistics against us for years to come.
This has been proven by the SHU report.
The trial ran from 8 January to 30 April 2009 it was submitted on the 21st January 2010.
We are now feeling the backlash of it's failure in 2012.
Reasons for it's failure.
1. It was not fully supported by it's membership.
Only 23 reports were returned from it's 45 lofts taking part. This in its self was the biggest failure.
Percentage wise, this must have been about about 5% of lofts in Scotland.
2. The study was done when loft activity was at it's lowest, also making sparrowhawk activity at it's lowest, so in reality the study was worthless.
3. It should have been concentrating on loft attacks on pigeons, when there was lots of activity, old bird racing and youngbirds. This would have given a truer picture of attacks, as the would have been more intense due to the availability of food.

If the combined unions were to do a study it would have to concentrate on much more than 5% of the fancy. But we all know this wouldn't happen.

Gaz,

all your time and effort will not go unnoticed by those that Really care.

all the best mate, and a massive pat on the back from me who has only just started in the sport.

Tony.

Cheers Tony.
At least we got some birders to recognise we had a problem, maybe that was a start mate.