SO, as I suspected, netting off Fisherton railway bridge wasn’t the only measure being taken to reduce Salisbury’s pigeon population.

A crafty cull has been under way. Its organisers wanted to hush it up, for fear of – er, putting the cat among the pigeons – and upsetting softies like me who like a bit of life in their wildlife.

But news has this awkward habit of getting out. That’s why people with power dislike journalists.

There’ll be no carnage on our city streets, though. Perish the thought.

To spare the tears of children and tourists, the birds are being trapped and taken to “Yeovil, I believe”, as a spokesman for the Business Improvement District put it.

Well, it’ll certainly improve business in the Yeovil pest control sector, won’t it?

Once there, they are humanely dispatched. Out of sight, out of mind.

Realistically, they could hardly be set free, could they? Yeovil’s probably got enough pigeons of its own.

I’ve been researching online, and one thing the experts agree on, and I quote, is this: “Pigeon flock size is dictated, almost exclusively, by the extent of available food.”

In other words, if our city didn’t provide them with a good living, they’d go elsewhere.

But they don’t need to, because while our elected representatives talk about these peaceable creatures as if they were the scum of the earth, we humans are busy fouling our environment with droppings of our own – bits of takeaway food and all the detritus of what we fondly imagine to be a cool café culture.

Our city is downright dirty. Let’s hope the asset transfer deal agreed this week between Wiltshire and Salisbury will enable us to afford some extra street sweeping.

Unless we clean up our act, the outlay on pest control will be money down the drain.

Because, and I quote again: “Lethal control of pigeons can actually have the effect of increasing flock size in the medium/long term.

“As there will be fewer birds exploiting the food supply, there will be increased availability of food for the remainder of the flock.

“Increased food supply means increased breeding activity, resulting in a mini population explosion.”

Sorry if this reads like a lecture, but one more quote: “Pigeons are highly intelligent birds and will not blindly enter a cage trap indefinitely when they have seen other pigeons enter the trap and fail to escape.”

Logical thinkers, eh? My bet’s on the birds!

What’s up, doc?

SPEAKING of official secrecy, rumours have been circulating for months about a scheme to set up a new ‘super surgery’ combining GP practices in the city.

But as usual, those in charge are saying nothing. Because that’s how England works.

People who think they know best get together to make decisions, present them to the hoi polloi as a fait accompli and then ignore them when they complain that it wasn’t what they wanted.

Whenever you feel like talking about it, guys, we’re here to listen.

anneriddle36@gmail.com

* In last week’s column I renamed the Cat Tavern the Cat & Fiddle. Brain malfunction. Apologies.