Putting Salisbury's pigeons on the pill is our least worst option

IF there’s ever a good time to be a pigeon, it certainly isn’t now.
For weeks they’ve suffered the unwanted attentions of the Cathedral’s breeding peregrine falcons.
The excited racket the young family make as the parents come screaming back to the spire with their latest kill carries loud and clear across the meadows to Harnham.
Natural pest control, I’d call it, and I don’t mind it at all.
Far preferable to the arsenal of toxic chemicals mankind has cooked up to wipe out unwanted neighbours on this planet, be they bugs or persecuted ethnic minorities.
The hot summer weather has taken a toll, too, and apparently the city’s pigeon population is already plummeting faster than a peregrine diving on its prey. (They can reach 200mph, according to the RSPB.)
Now the beleaguered birds face all-out war from Salisbury City Council.
I know they poo on people’s heads at Fisherton railway bridge – the pigeons, that is, not the council - and pedestrians can feel they are running the gauntlet. That’s Network Rail’s fault, for failing to install sufficient deterrents.
I know their droppings are said to carry disease. But the expert consensus is that the risk to humans is slight. The Department of Health said last year that it was “not aware of any cases of human infections” arising in this way.
On the other hand it is indisputable that these droppings, because they are acidic, damage our ancient buildings, so people who encourage pigeons to hang about the city centre by feeding them are ill-advised, however good their intentions.
What to do, though?
Since we can hardly have hunting parties stomping round the shops, picking them off one by one, it does sound to me as if the cunning plan of building nice, welcoming pigeon lofts is a good one.
There, the unsuspecting guests can be fed contraceptive seed mix, or their eggs can be taken away or unobtrusively spiked to prevent them hatching.
Labour-intensive, possibly, but undoubtedly humane.
Which pleases me, because I rather like pigeons, and their lovely soft cooing is one of the sounds that say ‘summer’ to me.
Whether this measure alone will be enough, I have no idea. But it has to be worth a try.
Now then, about those deer at the crematorium ………….