Hungerford Town Council may have to cull pigeons again

Hungerford's feral pigeons may have to be culled again.

At a recent full town council meeting, Hungerford mayor Helen Simpson revealed in a written report to colleagues: "I am receiving more and more complaints about the numbers of the pigeon population growing again within the town.

"The town clerk has recently met with a pest controller who will write a report for [our] highways and transport committee.

"As most of the buildings are privately owned or rented, Hungerford Town Council can only encourage pigeon proofing and offer advice to occupants."

Last August there was some pushback against a previous cull which had been carried out as a last resort.

However, most of it was from non-residents, and a good deal clearly from outside the UK due to the fact that email responses were written in several languages.

The town council established several working parties in the past decade which sought advice and spent thousands of pounds implementing strategies including netting, spikes, deterrent ‘fire gel’ and public education campaigns about feeding the birds and food littering.

But none were sufficiently effective; complaints from members of the public continued to pour in and some shopkeepers said pigeons were so emboldened that they came into their premises.

In 2020 West Berkshire Council’s Public Protection Partnership concluded that there was a growing feral pigeon population in the town, which posed a public health risk.

Mrs Simpson, who endured personal online abuse over the issue, said at the time she had been encouraged by the response from most residents and the "silent majority" in the town.