I HAVE been reading about the problem with pigeons in the centre of Trowbridge. I work for HJ Knee Ltd in Fore Street. We have always had a problem with the pigeons nesting on our roofs and in the compost store room.

What do we do to keep the number of pigeons down? We remove the eggs from the nest.

If the eggs do hatch then we let nature take its course but the the young birds' droppings are much more of a problem. They block up drains and in a short time pile up, which could spread disease to us humans. When our drains get blocked I've watched our floor manager go up onto the roof and come back with two or three black bags of droppings.

As for bringing a bird of prey in to scare them off this would only be a short term solution. Over the last two years nature has come in and started culling the pigeons herself in the form of sparrow hawks. Last year a female sparrow hawk attacked a pigeon over our car park in Castle Street. The pigeon was too heavy to carry away and they both dropped onto the car park. At this point we thought let nature take its course.

The pigeon was big and the hawk was small. It took over 10 minutes for this bird to die. She ate that whole bird and left only the head.

Once a bird of prey has struck its prey then that bird will either die of shock or from its wounds. Nature is surely cruel in some ways but we all prey on something. This is the cycle of life and nature always finds a balance in all creatures great and small so let's hope she finds it with the pigeons of Trowbridge.

MR RD FELTHAM,

Beech Grove,

Trowbridge.