Churches’ falcon boxes are killing off racing pigeons

Birds in Queen’s loft could be under threat from peregrine falcons

FOR more than 100 years the Royal family has kept racing pigeons. But the 170 birds in the Queen’s loft could be under threat from urban peregrine falcons, which are being encouraged to nest on church rooftops.

The Royal Pigeon Racing Association (RPRA) has warned that more and more birds are being killed by falcons as conservation efforts boost their numbers. Churches and cathedrals, including Norwich, Salisbury and Derby, have installed boxes to house falcons, which have protected legal status in the UK, but they are coming under fire from racers who say the boxes are on race routes, and birds are increasingly failing to return.

Ian Evans, general manager of the RPRA, said: “It is getting worse every year. With the emergence of these breeding boxes, the breeding success of peregrine falcons is much greater.”

He said racing pigeons suffered from a public image problem because they were conflated with feral pigeons, which were seen as vermin. Racing pigeons are “far from the same”, he said. They are bred for their speed, stamina and homing instinct, and tend to be slimmer than their wild equivalents.

There are 1,500 pairs of peregrine falcons in the country. Many churches and cathedrals installed boxes after noticing the birds nesting on their roofs, with some installing webcams and filing updates on the health and activities of the birds.

Salisbury Cathedral has been monitoring its birds since 2014. A box was introduced after a peregrine laid its eggs on a public walkway, which were abandoned after they rolled apart on the hard surface. Richard Salt, who works on the cathedral’s front desk, said: “We didn’t put a sign out saying ‘room for peregrines to let’. We feel sorry for the pigeons, but the peregrines would be there anyway.”

The Daily Telegraph reported in 2005 that one of the Queen’s pigeons was missing, presumed dead, after it failed to return from a training flight ahead of a major national race. It is not known what the ultimate fate of the pigeon was, or whether the loft has experienced any losses since.

But its current manager might be wary of sending his prized birds via Norwich, around 40 miles away, where a successful peregrine falcon breeding box has been in place on the cathedral’s roof since 2011.