Ordered to pay £2,400, pensioner who won’t stop feeding the pigeons
A RETIRED library assistant has been ordered to pay thousands of pounds after she flouted a ban on feeding the birds in her garden.
Katherine Spiller, who has no family, described herself as ‘isolated’ and said she liked the birds’ company.
But the 66-year-old was forced to pay £2,443 – a £704 fine and a £1,729 victim surcharge – after neighbours complained about her putting out seeds for the creatures.
Miss Spiller began inviting the birds into her garden in 1995 by throwing seed from her bathroom window in Oxford.
This attracted large flocks of pigeons – which are recognised as a pest in the UK – as well as smaller garden birds.
Over the past two decades, neighbours have objected to the swarms of pigeons defecating and ‘causing distress’.
Following a string of complaints from locals, Miss Spiller was handed a community protection notice by Oxford City Council in February last year, ordering her to stop encouraging the creatures.
But she defiantly continued to feed them. She was hauled to court and fined after breaching the cease and desist notice eight times.
Oxford magistrates’ court was shown pictures of dozens of pigeons perched on the roof and window ledges of Miss Spiller’s terraced house, and sitting on neighbouring buildings.
Jeremy Franklin, representing the council, said the pensioner was a ‘ habitual feeder of birds, mostly pigeons, which congregate around her house in large numbers, causing a certain amount of distress and antagonism to the neighbours’. He added that she was warned to stop dropping bird seed or food that would encourage birds, vermin or other animals in her garden, and said ‘ those charged with dealing with this problem are at their wits’ end’.
But Miss Spiller said yesterday: ‘Like many older people, I’m rather isolated – I enjoy the company of pigeons and I enjoy feeding them.
‘They’re so appreciative of the food, and I’m appreciative of their company – they give so much back and I get a lot out of the time I spend with them. I’ve been feeding pigeons for many years, since I was a child.’
She added that after legislation introduced in 2008 equated the public feeding of pigeons with littering, she started doing it from home instead.
‘I never dreamed I’d get in trouble for it,’ she said.
‘Pigeons are so friendly, and I like that – I’ve had a few favourites over the years and I’ve even named some of them.’