Dead Pigeons

[Mac of Cygnet]

Has to be one of the more unusual CRT advice notices:

 

Original 3 August 2026, 2:46pm

 

We are aware that there is an abundance of dead pigeons in the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from Lock 9e to Whitely Bottom, Bridge 32. We have reported this incident and will have them professionally removed by our contractors potentially by the end of the week.

 

What on earth has been going on here?

[Hudds Lad]

According to local gossip, they suspect poisoned bread as lots of slices seen floating in the canal and nearby. There is (or was) a large feral flock of pigeons that inhabits Milnsbridge and roosts on the old mill that's been converted to flats.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Local knowledge is all! But rather alarming that it is poison. Most dogs, including mine, will eat anything lying around.

[IanM]

9 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

According to local gossip

 

I think it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt then.  Local Facebook groups are full of stories where people have put two and two together and come up with something wildly off the mark.  It's almost like there is a competition to come up with a story which causes the most reaction.

[Wafi]

We have peregrines nesting on the nearby church tower, and they're very messy eaters. The churchyard has been liberally strewn with bits of dead pigeon for at least a month; our garden's downwind, and there are feathers everywhere.

[Hudds Lad]

38 minutes ago, IanM said:

 

I think it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt then.  Local Facebook groups are full of stories where people have put two and two together and come up with something wildly off the mark.  It's almost like there is a competition to come up with a story which causes the most reaction.

Absolutely. And in a day or so the Reach Group "newspaper" pages will run it as a story, because they trawl all the local pages for their content.

 

Possibly unrelated, but a dead  badger has also been found down there this morning.

 

[IanM]

3 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Absolutely. And in a day or so the Reach Group "newspaper" pages will run it as a story, because they trawl all the local pages for their content.

 

Possibly unrelated, but a dead  badger has also been found down there this morning.

 

 

In all fairness that is composed better than most of them 😆

[ditchcrawler]

9 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

Absolutely. And in a day or so the Reach Group "newspaper" pages will run it as a story, because they trawl all the local pages for their content.

 

Possibly unrelated, but a dead  badger has also been found down there this morning.

 

But you wouldnt throw bread in the water to feed pigeons .More likely stopped by for a drink and got a crop full or water

[MtB]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

But you wouldnt throw bread in the water to feed pigeons .More likely stopped by for a drink and got a crop full or water

 

I've often wondered why pigeons and similar birds don't/can't swim about in the water like coots, moorhens etc.

 

 

[Lady M]

They don't have webbed feet.

[Arthur Marshall]

10 minutes ago, Lady M said:

They don't have webbed feet.

I don't think moorhens do, either.

I presume waterfowl are waterproof, and pigeons aren't.

[IanM]

10 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I presume waterfowl are waterproof, and pigeons aren't.

 

That's basically it.

[ditchcrawler]

10 hours ago, Lady M said:

They don't have webbed feet.

And body warmers that are not waterproof

Edited Wednesday at 08:41 by ditchcrawler