A Manx bird charity has spoken against Douglas Council’s move to ban mass feeding of wild birds throughout the town.

Manx Wild Bird Aid (MWBA) is calling for the council to follow guidance set out by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) on how to manage the pigeon population without leaving them to starve.

It also raises concerns about home bird feeders being affected.

The council is now seeking approval from Tynwald to amend the Douglas General Byelaws 2013, in particular bylaw 19, which relates to ’feeding of animals and birds’.

It wants to extend the current prohibited feeding zone to cover the entire Borough of Douglas.

The current zone includes; Douglas seafront from the Bottleneck to the war memorial; Mona Terrace; Finch Road; Athol Street; Bridge Road; South Quay and Parade Street; plus areas on Prospect Terrace and Buck’s Road.

Those caught flouting the bylaw would be given a fixed penalty notice.

David Cole, a founding member of MWBA with his wife Barbara, doesn’t believe the bylaw would protect those who feed birds at home from being fined if a complaint is made against them.

He said: ’The trouble is that Douglas Council says the bylaw doesn’t apply to people with bird tables in their gardens. A byelaw doesn’t have any exceptions.

’In theory if someone says "the birds in your garden are annoying me" the bird feeder could be liable for a spot fine.’

Council leader David Christian said: ’The changes the council is proposing are not about targeting well-meaning householders who have bird tables or garden feeders in their gardens. This we applaud.

’It’s about putting enforcement measures in place to deal with irresponsible individuals who persistently mass-feed birds, especially seagulls.

’This is a practice which attracts large concentrations of birds, causes widespread public nuisance and distress and encourages vermin.

’It also places undue demands on the council’s street cleansing operations and compromises our efforts to project a positive image for Douglas.’

Advice given by the DEFA to local authorities includes having designated feeding areas set up for members of the public to freely feed pigeons and other birds.

In the document ’Advice and Information on Pigeon Control’, it also suggests setting up artificial breeding facilities, which has been said to decrease pigeon populations by as much as 50%.

This is achieved by removing eggs that have been laid inside the nesting boxes and replacing them with dummy eggs.

We previously reported in May about the worrying decline of seabird populations across the island.

A survey was carried out over two years by Manx BirdLife with its 2017-18 census revealing that eight seabird species have suffered significant declines, with population losses of up to 82%.

When asked about this, Mr Cole said: ’We have got to give gulls a helping hand, particularly when it’s cold or during breeding season. When we take away that option [of being fed] it’s going to have an affect on a number of birds.’

He added: ’We deal with sick and injured birds. If there’s a sudden stop in the feeding of birds then a lot of them are going to starve because of it. There’s a lot of distressed birds in the island already.’