London’s Trafalgar Square is a No Fly Zone

Trafalgar Square is a no fly zone for pigeons. They are gone. That cooing, feathered flock of scroungers who delighted generations of children and tourists have been evicted.

There was a time when pigeons were considered heroes

“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag!” they were immortalized by Mary Poppins and as much of a London fixture as her umbrella. They were cost-effective entertainment and as great a photo opp as

mostly everyone smiled. No more, that’s history. Today a couple of Harris hawks check daily for impudent laggards at an annual cost of $100,000 which is no chicken feed.

It was Lord Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson’s less charismatic predecessor who waged war on Trafalgar’s feathered friends. $40,000,000 was spent on renovating the square, giving Admiral Lord Nelson, atop his column, and the lions at the base, a wash and brush up. Livingstone did not want his investment sullied and revoked the license of the Square’s traditional seed sellers. There was an uproar. Feathers were not just ruffled they flew. STTSP – Save the Trafalagar Square Pigeons was formed.

There was a time when pigeons were considered heroes, oped columists pointed out in miles of newsprint devoted to the controversy. 500,000 birds were employed during WW2 carrying messages behind enemy lines between troops and secret agents. They incurred Hitler’s wrath. He ordered all birds heading towards England shot on sight. No question that the avians have an illustrious documented past.

Around the time of Moses the Egyptian army used carrier pigeons to deliver messages. In ancient Greece the names of Olympic victors were carried back to their cities via pigeon. Later, in London, stockbrokers and bankers relied on pigeons. Nathan Rothschild received the news of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo this way and used the information to add to his fortune.

10,000 pigeons?  Which Security Council member has such a flying force in case its hi-tech military communications fail? September 2012 Monocle Magazine

Julius Reuter bridged a gap in telegraph lines with pigeons during the Franco Prussian war, also made a fortune and founded Reuters. In 1981 Lockheed engineers in California sent negatives regularly to a test station via pigeon who covered the distance in half the time and a fraction of a cost of  cars.

Tales of pigeon prowess throughout history are endless and they are still making headlines. In todays high tech world the Chinese are on the pigeons’ case and have created a formidable force of pigeons in Chungdu. This flock is for military missions stationed at China’s far flung borders. There are as many at a state of readiness as soldiers in the Swiss army it is said.  They will be used in the event of conmunication collapse caused by electromagnetic interference or failure of signals. September’s Monocle Magazine has a cover story about the crack squadron: “10,000 pigeons, Which Security Council member has such a flying force in case its hi-tech military communications fail?”

Its good to know pigeons are embracing the age of technology. Back to London. Many of the Trafalgar Square residents have decamped to St. James Park where they can more easily check on the comings and goings of the Royals. But some are busy. Two are now blogging, Brian and Pepys. Brian did a guest column recently in London’s Time Out interviewing Johnny One Leg. He has a Facebook page and is on Twitter, appropriate for a bird. Check him out @brianpigeon.

As for the two Harris hawks, one of whom is named Harry, they commute from Essex each day. They cost the British taxpayers $100,000 per year.  Blogging pigeons claim that there have been only 130 fatalities in six years which amounts to about $4,000 per pigeon. It seems there is plenty for them to blog, tweet and Twitter about, but Harry and his Harris Hawk chum have Trafalgar Square all to themselves. It could just come down to the age old dilemma brawn, brains and survival of the fittest.