Bird Feeding

Wild birds can be found feeding in lots of public parks in Glasgow. In appropriate pond locations (e.g. Hogganfield Park Local Nature Reserve) and in small amounts supplementary feeding of water birds provides a valuable food supply for resident and/or visiting birds throughout the year and many people also feed birds in their own garden or shared green- see RSPB When to feed garden birds.  However, unsuitable or excessive bird feeding has contributed to a rise in rodents, and this has then created conflict with other park users, especially in popular public parks where there are children's play areas near feeding areas. Excessive or careless bird feeding done on a regular basis can also cause noise and fouling problems for other park users, particularly where larger birds such as pigeons, crows, magpies or gulls are attracted to feed. Excessive food will also attract larger birds, which can discourage the smaller birds from feeding, so it can become counterproductive to the original good intentions of the provider.

Dumping of large quantities of food waste on Council land is considered an offence under Scottish Law and can result in a fine or prosecution. NB: Under the Food Waste Scotland Regulations all food waste in excess of 5Kgs must be recycled - see Scot Gov - Managing food waste  If food waste is being dumped in large quantities in a public park then this must be reported to Environmental Health on 0141 287 1059.

If you are feeding birds at ponds in parks then do this in small quantities and please ensure there is no waste food after feeding the birds, so that it doesn't attract rodents and other less publicly welcome animals into the Park.

Govanhill Park

Govanhill Park is a very popular park, in a courtyard configuration and surrounded by tenement flats on all sides, many of which do not have access to a private garden space for relaxation and recreation. There are many young families with children who visit the park regularly to enjoy the open space and play in the playgrounds. The park has had signage in place for a number of years indicating that members of the public should not feed the birds due to historic rat sightings. Food sources strewn across the ground combined with the shrubby shelter provided by a semi-natural parkland environment mean that conditions are perfect for harbouring large populations of vermin. This compromises public safety and wildlife biodiversity around the park. In addition, the global avian influenza pandemic is a real threat to bird populations, and mass feeding of birds is known to contribute to the spread of the disease. Recent rat sightings have been raised as a concern by community representatives.

Actions being taken by Pest Control

Pest control have visited the park and applied rodent control measures as well as making a number of recommendations for early action including grass cutting, de-littering and relocation of the clothing bank. 

Actions being taken by Parks Development

New large format signage will be installed asking that members of the public desist from putting out waste food to feed the birds. Replace, following a further inspection for any nesting birds, areas of non-native shrub planting with pollinator friendly bulbs, to reduce areas where litter, and associated food waste, might be harder to collect. Replace area of gravel surfacing with an alternative surface/s since the existing surface makes the area harder to sweep up waste food/bird seed effectively.

Actions being taken by Parks Operations

An additional grass-cut and de-litter of the site took place on Saturday 10 June.

Actions being taken by Neighbourhood Liaison Team

• Engaging local community groups to ask for assistance through their networks to discourage bird feeding as much as possible.
• Visiting local mosques and asking Imams to discuss this with their congregations and announce the message to stop feeding birds in the park when people are there for prayer time. The Safer Communities Policing Team visited the mosque on Langside Road, near to the park, and a further message was agreed to be announced at prayer times today, to reach up to 1,000 people.
• Met with local councillors and asked them to discourage bird feeding on their platforms.
• Attended the Merge group, attended by 300 Asian women, where one of the local councillors also translated the message in Urdu to support the initiative.
• Engaging Govanhill Housing Association who are assisting with this message and relaying to the local community and tenants.
• Met with Govanhill Magazine and South Seeds today and asked them to help raise the issue.
• Advised Thriving Places in the local area of the issues and asked for their support to discourage.
• Asked if the two clothing banks around the park could be relocated.
• Once an electronic version of the signage is available, the message will be reinforce through our mailing lists.

Actions that can be taken by Residents

The council would ask members of the public to play their part by doing the following:

• Please dispose of litter within the bins provided.
• Please use our food waste recycling service (PDF) [3MB] (opens new window) in line with the advice provided.
• Please be aware that disposal of waste food onto the ground is considered littering, and our Environmental Enforcement Officers can issue an £80 Fixed Penalty Notice.
• Please review the advice from RSPB about what materials can be fed to birds in spring or summer, and the use of bird feeders to prevent the food being eaten by vermin.
• RSPB website.