Sources

The Act that makes killing or taking a wild bird an offence, and the power under which general licences are issued.

The licence most pigeon control in England runs under. Names feral pigeon as a permitted target and sets the conditions that apply.

The superseded version. Its Condition 1 applied to feral pigeon; the 2026 licence narrowed the same condition to jackdaw.

The crop and property damage route. A different justification from GL41 and often confused with it.

The Welsh equivalent. Feral pigeon is the only species on it.

The Scottish equivalent, covering nests and eggs as well as birds.

Northern Ireland, issued under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.

Unnecessary suffering. Relevant once a wild bird is under the control of a person — for example, once it is caught in netting.

A shooting organisation. Useful for spotting when licences change; not a neutral guide to what they mean.

A pest control trade body. Plain-English, and written for the people carrying out the work.

The mainstream UK starting point. Covers the species you are likely to be looking at.

First response guidance, including the charity’s position that human litter is the main cause of the foot injuries you see on urban birds.

What to do, and how to report netting that is trapping birds.

Sets out when welfare law starts to apply to a wild bird, which is the point most netting disputes turn on.

Deterrents the charity considers humane, and its warning about netting that is not maintained.

Non-emotive garden advice, including keeping netting taut and inspected.

A controlled Barcelona study of restricting public feeding, with untreated districts as a comparison. (free full text)

Measures how quickly culled sites refill, and finds distance to the nearest untreated colony to be the main predictor.

The standard review chapter, and the reference most later work builds on.

Compares how New York, London, Basel, Barcelona and Paris have approached the same problem. Free full text.

Proofing and exclusion as the first line. Haag-Wackernagel is the most-cited researcher working on this species.

The standard survey of transmission to humans across 1941–2003. Concludes the risk to the general population is very low, and separately that immunocompromised people face a far higher risk of fungal infection. (abstract on PubMed)

The study behind the claim that foot mutilation in urban pigeons tracks human litter and density rather than disease.

Readable summary for anyone who cannot reach the paper.

Argues the hairdresser correlation did not survive into the final model and is likely confounded. Included because the headline version of this finding travelled further than the finding did.

A rescue organisation, so a party to the argument, but detailed on how the condition progresses.

The official result. The dovecote initiative was rejected and the government’s counter-proposal carried. German.

What voters were actually choosing between, in the canton’s own words. German.

Aftermath reporting, including the budget and the campaigners’ objections to it. German.

English-language background on the Basel feeding ban and the welfare objection to banning feeding without providing lofts.

A comparison of the three Swiss approaches. An animal welfare publication with a stated position; the underlying figures are checkable against the cities’ own pages.

Includes the 1961–85 Basel cull totals. Same caveat as above.

How the loft-and-egg-replacement method works, and where else in Europe it has been tried.

A UK institutional account of a workshop on wildlife contraception.

The San Diego trial that most efficacy claims for the method trace back to.

Why the method suits pigeon biology, and candid about why slow and invisible results have limited take-up.

A research-funding organisation with a stated welfare position. Good on what is not yet known.

The fullest account of the Freedom of Information records obtained from Transport for London.

Carries Transport for London’s own position alongside the objections to it.

A district council’s hawk trial and the objection that birds return once it ends.

The public spaces protection order route, which is the mechanism most councils are reaching for.

Live capture and shooting at town council level. Not only a big-city question.

The record of what was done at Trafalgar Square, in the authority’s own words.

Originated the managed dovecote and egg replacement method that most UK non-lethal advice descends from.

The consultancy arm. A commercial operator selling advice in this field.

Obtained the Transport for London records through Freedom of Information. Opposes all lethal control, and says so.

A long-running United States rescue, and the origin of much of the awareness of foot injuries.