RACING PIGEONS – IMPACT OF RAPTOR PREDATION

8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study has highlighted the very complex nature of the interactions between racing
pigeons and peregrines and sparrowhawks. The many gaps in knowledge that
currently exist severely constrain the ability to derive robust estimates of the impacts
of these raptors.
Total reported losses
Overall reported losses from lofts represented, on average, 56% of the loft population
at the start of the racing season. Examining the circumstances of losses, mean
reported losses of birds from the loft area, during training and during races were 8
(8%), 18 (16%) and 44 (35%), respectively. There was some regional variation in the
percentage of young birds reported lost during training; the greatest percentage of the
loft population was lost in Dunbartonshire/Stirling (31%) and least in
Fife/Perth/Dundee (11%). There was a significantly greater number and percentage
of young birds lost per loft than old birds. With respect to the numeric losses of
racing pigeons from the study lofts, it should be noted that the population of the study
lofts (mean 122 birds) was very probably larger than for Scotland as a whole, for
which 82 birds is considered to be more representative (Shawyer et al. 2000).
There are concerns over the accuracy of the reported loft losses from the study lofts
due to a number of anomalies in the data supplied by some loft-owners. The problem
of the validation of questionnaire data supplied by loft-owners has also been
highlighted by Dixon (pers. comm.). Clearly, any problems in the accurate recording
of losses from lofts has critical implications with respect to confounding the
evaluation of the impact of raptors. It is reasonable to assume that previous studies
may also have been subject to anomalies in the recording of losses, and previous
results should also be considered with this in mind. Future studies need to devise
reliable methods of verifying loft losses.
Reported losses to sparrowhawks
For sparrowhawks, this study attempted to substantiate reported losses to
sparrowhawks using standardised methodology and is considered to represent an
improvement on previous studies, which relied solely on the subjective assessment of
loft owners. Overall reported losses to sparrowhawks represented