Bird Brained

I first heard about this story on Jeremy Vine’s radio show this afternoon. Mr and Mrs Cooper were interviewed about their recent experience when Mr Cooper was issued with a £50 fixed penalty notice for feeding the birds in Kiveton Park:

“George and Janine Cooper were secretly filmed for four days as they made their “seed run” around their village of Kiveton Park, near Rotherham, South Yorks.

They set off at 7am with five bags of bird food, which they make from bird seed, sultanas, sunflower seed, water and scraps of bread.

Mr and Mrs Cooper use five regular feeding points, including a bluebell wood and a paved area near the village library.

They were shocked when two wardens appeared from the shadows and gave them the £50 fixed penalty notice for dropping litter. The wardens said that CCTV cameras had been tracking their movements for days.”

So, clearly the wardens had nothing better to do for four days. As one caller pointed out, they could have been dealing with youths riding motorcycles on footpaths, or using the car park as a race track, or dog walkers who don’t clear up after their animals – real nuisances, rather than a couple going along with the RSPB’s recommendation to feed wild birds.

What a wretched, pathetic world we now inhabit; where mean, small minded officials representing even meaner, smaller minded borough councils have nothing better to do than harass innocent people who are doing nothing more than feeding birds. It is not littering. Mrs Cooper explained on Jeremy Vine’s show that they buy pre-prepared seed with raisins and nuts designed for wild birds. Wild birds that are in decline and that they felt would benefit from their actions.

Most reasonable people would concur with them. Who has not stopped for a moment to feed the birds? Certainly Mrs Longrider and I occasionally wander down to the river in Lodève and feed the ducks. The ducks like it and there is something tranquil about the experience. The excuse given by environmental officers and the councils is that such activity encourages vermin – rats and mice, for example. As Mrs Cooper pointed out, within an hour and a half, the birds have devoured the offerings leaving nothing for any rats or mice. The rats make the most of the real litter outside the local chippie, which, incidentally, she says the local environment officers have ignored…

In the meantime, Mr Cooper has been served with a notice from the council:

“Rotherham borough council has since posted the notice to them, demanding payment within 14 days, with the threat of a £2,500 fine or even jail unless they comply.”

There you go – that’s respect for you. You didn’t think it meant catching real criminals, did you?