£50 fine for feeding Trafalgar pigeons

Anyone caught feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square from today will face a £50 fine under a new by-law.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has imposed the measure to rid the square of the birds he has branded "rats with wings".

He claims the £25million part-pedestrianisation of the square would not have worked without their departure. Numbers are already down from 4,000 to about 200, after a hawk was used to scare them off and wardens were posted to ask people not to feed the birds.

Now, if someone refuses to comply, the wardens can take their details and send them to the Mayor, who will decide whether to prosecute. However a Greater London Authority spokesman was unsure if the police would be needed to make an offender give their details.

The Mayor said: "None of our improvements would have worked if the square was still infested with thousands of pigeons." But yesterday some visitors to the square were sad the feeding would end. Student Naomi Dixon, 20, from Bethnal Green, said: "The pigeons are part of London. Stopping me feeding them is an infringement of my civil liberties."