“The receivers are coming…” Spent millions on promoting this shit and ended up pissing it up the wall.
SO IT BEGINS…….
This post serves as an update on this incompetently run authority which I last reported on back in August. The scene in most of their shit run and “managed” parks is one of debris in every lake, dying trees rotting in the water and dead birds becoming infested with maggots which leads to outbreaks of botulism every year. It is a situation which mirrors the political imbeciles who run the show and their lacky unionised arseholes who somehow believe that “equality” means that an entire generation should pay the retirement packages of the civil servants who believe themselves to be more equal than others. Their greed has bankrupted this authority and they get what they deserve with the inevitable redundancies that will follow. The taxpayers of Birmingham do not deserve to have their council tax hiked. The 21% council tax hike recently announced and the dimming of the street lights may mean that those in the council house have to start “lighting little candles of their own.”
“Do not trust a hope, it has forsaken these lands.”
When bankruptcy of this Labour run authority was declared, their absolute joke of a new leader “Dot clot” Cotton was on holiday in New York celebrating his birthday. FFS!
Incidentally, it seems a necromancer is waiting in the wings to deliver a new sleepless malice, a witch king of fangmar forged in the fires of Mount Doom.
After doing their job for them and retrieving multiple carcases from one lake, to “ease the load” of the hard pressed ranger service 😆 as well as life *rings that the agency guy employed there asked me to do, I was under the impression that this authority could manage the simple task of arranging delivery of these dead birds to the APHA for examination- to at least determine they had not died from the much publicised “avian flu”.
*not just one ring, but many rings. They are precious, my love. 😆
I put in an FOI request to the APHA , as I had previously with that site, as well as others asking for the following.
“Could you please confirm if you have carried put any post mortems on wildfowl from Brookvale Park Birmingham , West Midlands- approximate nat grid reference SP091911 and supply me with the preliminary, supplementary and final reports concerning recent bird deaths .
We have retrieved several birds from this site in the last two months, and allegedly Birmingham City Council forwarded some of them to you for examination. Most were found to be riddled with maggots, the site having fluctuating water levels, and tree debris littering the lake.
It is noted that none appear to have tested positive for avian flu according to your publication list.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk…
Can you CONFIRM that these birds died from avian botulism, and was this a “presumptive diagnosis” without carrying out a test for this summer related illness?
I believe these may have been submitted to the Shrewsbury laboratory since May.”
I had been watching the weekly APHA wild bird surveillance list of positive cases, noting the lack of new wildfowl positives not only in this area, but around the country. None had been confirmed in the Birmingham area after we had picked up the birds, thus suggesting that they had died from something else- like the botulism that we suspected which was based on previous findings and experiences where the conditions were the same for example.
The only bird from the City council area on the list was a peregrine falcon from January 2023.
N. B NO WILDFOWL HAD TESTED POSITIVE ON THE APHA LIST FOR MANY MONTHS TO OVER A YEAR BY THIS POINT, AND THIS IS A FACT THAT IS OF HIGH IMPORTANCE TO THIS UPDATE.
I was therefore surprised by the terse response from the APHA refusing the request under highly spurious grounds.
They bizarrely claimed that this was the information which belonged to The Shitty council
“APHA can neither confirm nor deny it holds the information that you have requested.”
I obviously challenged this crap given that they had never refused previous similar requests, including for the same site and should not do so in this case. I also smelt a rat in wondering if Birmingham had even bothered to send off the dead birds, but was told by a resident who had offered to contact the council that a named ranger from the council, Danny Squire HAD picked them up from where we left them. A mystery and riddle in the dark if you will.
On this point I also as I have previously written and voiced, my concerns about the way in which the APHA hierarchy, those at director level are calling the shots on this being a “wild bird” issue, and their agenda in painting the picture that way without scrutiny.
“It is further noted that you routinely publish specific avian flu data and yet omit any other data concerning bird deaths for context, so that members of the public can gauge the facts about this specific illness, which I believe is being grossly exaggerated by the APHA.
Clearly, you are denying that the birds from this park and city DID NOT die from avian flu as you have not published positive tests on your wild bird AI surveillance reports in the public domain.
I further note that individuals within the hierarchy of the APHA are connected to academic institutions which are receiving money from the public purse for “vaccine research” into this specific illness, and have furthermore appeared in many publications concerning links to human health, again overblown.
A public interest test needs to be applied in this case, as it appears that information for all deaths and causes is being omitted by the APHA in favour of publishing just AI deaths without context. For this reason and the refusal to supply relevant data sets for anything else, one may question the professional integrity of those in the APHA who are connected with research into a specific field they are looking to gain from.”
The APHA carried out an internal review which did provide clarity that they had used the wrong exemption, but crucially stated “APHA can confirm it has not carried out any postmortems on wildfowl from Brookvale Park Birmingham, West Midlands.”
This therefore meant that Birmingham City Council had questions to answer as to what they had done with the birds that we had spent a whole afternoon, and indeed, several days clearing this lake of dead birds to attempt to stop the suspected botulism outbreak.
I submitted another FOI request To Birmingham City council to draw them out as to what their story was.
It looks like that white tree has withered and died under the council’s stewardship. Will it ever flower if a King returns to the city?
The council offered this response.
Response
“Could you please confirm the species and numbers of birds forwarded
for post mortem from Brookvale Park Birmingham , West Midlands approximate nat grid reference SP091911 and supply me with the
preliminary, supplementary and final reports concerning recent bird
deaths from the APHA- i.e. all those from May 2023.”
None of the birds recovered from Brookvale Park were fit for post-mortem (birds have to be fresh collected/free from putrefaction).
This is a complete pack of lies. The birds shown above, swans were freshly dead. The APHA receive submissions of skin and bone and sometimes unidentifiable species due to decomposition. The officers of this council therefore at the first stage lie about not submitting birds to the APHA. The APHA are those who are able to comment on autolysis, not Birmingham City Council, FFS!
“We have retrieved several birds from this site in the last three months,
and allegedly Birmingham City Council forwarded some of them to the
APHA for investigation.”
The bird carcases that were deposited into the front garden of a Council Tenant were not fit for testing as they were in an advanced state of putrefaction/liquefaction. As stated for tests to be carried out birds have to be fresh collected/free from putrefaction.
Another total lie. The fact that they as a council had failed to “fresh collect” the birds, some of which had obviously been there for weeks appears to have escaped their attention.
“Most were found to be riddled with maggots, the site having fluctuating
water levels, and tree debris littering the lake. Previous confirmed
botulism episodes at this lake and clinical observations of birds support
the likely cause of botulism again- fuelled by the continued conditions at
this site.
It is noted that no birds in the BCC area appear to have tested positive for
avian flu according to the APHA publication list, up to week 40 (2nd-8th
October 2023).”
This is not true. A Peregrine Falcon tested positive for Avian Influenza in week four of 2023 as stated below.
In this regard I had made an error in the wording of the question, which I had asked as another question below. It is the case that no wildfowl had tested positive in 2023 for avian flu. The observations about birds on the site at Brookvale are 100% true, and were botulism symptoms. See video below.
It is also worth noting that many of the ill birds we took off this lake and treated for botulism fully recovered after being given treatment for botulism. They would not have done so if they had been ill with avian flu. This was the same as had happened previously, when liar park manager John Porter, (now ex of the council) claimed that “there is nothing meaningful to be done.”
“It is noted that none appear to have tested positive for avian flu
according to the APHA publication list , with only one bird, a peregrine
falcon in week 4 coming from Birmingham.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/652543deaea2d0000d219a
d6/ai-findings-2023-wk40.csv/preview”
Birds were submitted for testing from Witton Lakes Grid Ref SP 088 923, 1
Swan (Cygnet) 1 Coot, 1 Tufted Duck and 4 Mallard Ducks from Witton Lakes
were collected and frozen for submission to APHA along with an adult male
Swan from Norman Chamberlain Pool, Grid Ref SP 156 883, APHA references
WSF-A9E6_FHH3-2EC4/WSF-X4K3-PYDJ-RE84. After 4 days APHA had not
arranged collection, advice received from the APHA/Defra call handlers on the week commencing 10 July 2023 that as Avian Influenza had been previously recorded in the locality that any bird deaths that did not have other obvious reasons (for example, dog attack) should be treated as Avian Influenza. Avian Influenza has been previously recorded at Brookvale Park/Witton Lakes in 2022.
Bird flu marshals an army from the North. Birmingham is weak. The City council’s ranger forces need to move.
This statement is a lie and the crux of the whole avian flu hoax being perpetuated. I queried this claim with the APHA and will look at their denial of this further below. The idea that ALL deaths unless something obvious is apparent should be treated as this one single cause without any scientific evidence is utter bullshit. How would they know the cause was “obvious” when birds at Brookvale had been dead for weeks and were rotting without any attempt to retrieve them for evidence?
It is like saying that because someone once died of AIDS in West Bromwich, that ALL subsequent deaths should be treated as AIDS deaths. NO BIRD DEATHS WERE PROVEN AVIAN FLU CASES IN MANY MONTHS AT THIS SITE OR IN BIRMINGHAM. THE SAME CAN BE SAID ABOUT THE CONNECTING BLACK COUNTRY BOROUGHS.
Also why should one single bird of prey receive more attention than many dead wildfowl who could also have been the victim of wildlife crime? This is just another example of the hypocrisy that top table “conservation” organisations have for putting this one species ahead of others.
“Can you CONFIRM therefore that these birds at Brookvale park died from
avian botulism, and was this a “presumptive diagnosis” without carrying
out a test for this summer related illness?
Please read previous answer, in addition a Cygnet at Witton Lakes less than
0.9km away from Brookvale Park was euthanised by the RSPCA within this
time frame displaying symptoms of Avian Influenza.
This is another major problem. The RSPCA have behaved disgracefully at times with “avian flu”, and a prime example of needle happy stress being used to solve a problem caused by the shite guidance that DEFRA and those promoting the bird flu hoax have given them. The adherence to authority and complicity with it is quite shocking, but not surprising given the multitude of 20th Century studies to obedience, conformity and authority. The symptoms of avian flu have been made so general by the APHA hierarchy as to include everything, as I have stated before.
These are not specific to avian flu, contradict each other, and are also seen in botulism, lead poisoning and many other avian illnesses/foul play caused by man. Many of these would be treated or looked for prior to this rubbish guidance being circulated, would not result in an instant death sentence after “rescue” and should be again.
I am aware that the RSPCA have killed birds that were not confirmed ill with bird flu, but were killed because they could not outrun their boat, as well as one swan in Smethwick that was killed that had been mating and was knackered, and yet this was taken as “avian flu” symptoms like those above no doubt without ANY evidence being confirmed or ANY previous incidents for months before that.
The attempt here by the council to mention this is a desperate attempt to look credible, when in fact it demonstrates the opposite of the lie.
“I believe these may have been submitted to the Shrewsbury laboratory
since May. Any names appearing on the reports of officers may be
redacted if you wish, but not the cause of death, as there is a strong
public interest to establish the real cause of death of these birds, rather
than false information and narratives about “avian flu” ,which clearly
these birds DID NOT have. The public should not be misled’.”
As Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza HPAI (H5N1) is a risk to human health this dictates our response.
The bullshit signs. Perhaps it’s time to “put aside the ranger” and grow a fucking backbone?
On receiving this, I immediately got back to the APHA to clarify their position, as well as starting a complaint about this via the BCC complaints procedure. Of the latter, they originally attempted to limit the complaint I had made over the phone, so corrected this with a full breakdown of my concerns.
The reply from BCC came from an individual who I have encountered before and who many have commented bares an uncanny resemblance to the fat hobbit, except without any valour, bravery or wisdom of Samwise Gamgee.
It is not for the first time that false accusations have been made against me by officers of this council concerning birds, and yet incredibly here we are again over 20 years later with the same guy behind them. The response also contained many provable lies and untruths. Here are the main comments and my rebuttal.
“No permission had been given to you to go on to Brookvale Pool and retrieve life rings or dead birds. Incidentally you then decided to leave the bird carcases in the front garden of a council tenant who is not an employee of Birmingham’s Parks and as such the front garden constitutes a private residency. By doing so you caused distress to the resident. I would politely ask that you refrain from either going on to the water at Brookvale or depositing dead birds in the garden of a council tenant.”
This statement is a lie. The resident has confirmed that she was not caused distress, offered to have them on her lawn as she was in touch with the guy who worked on the site, unlike the office based creature responding to this complaint and I was asked if I could retrieve the life rings by the man working on this park. Foxes could have dragged dead bird parts around the whole site and off site when left as they were for over a week, inside her garden or out of it, thus spreading disease further afield anyway. We also put the blessed life rings in the garden, thus keeping them secret, and keeping them safe where they could be collected by the site operator, which is more than his lazy fucking rangers had done in months by the number that were counted! I think the fat one wants the rings for himself. 😮
The same statement is made multiple times to questions and observations that I made about Birmingham City Council’s lack of action, and removal of dead birds, so the copy and paste must have been used.
“After seeking advice from APHA, the advice given was with Avian Influenza being prevalent across the UK during the Spring/Summer of 2023 if the pool has already tested positive for Avian Influenza or was within a 10km cordon sanitaire of a pool that had tested positive then subsequent bird deaths should be treated as Avian Influenza.
In previous years where the attributable cause of death has been Avian Botulism then we have treated bird deaths as such.”
I will return to this except to say that a •“cordon sanitaire” refers to a restricted area where “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” How the fuck that relates to wild free flying birds that could travel miles and hop between pools over county and local authority borderlines is lost to my comprehension FFS!
-
a guarded line preventing anyone from leaving an area infected by a disease and thus spreading it:
Birmingham City council utterly failed to enact the guidance of the APHA regards botulism in Brookvale and at many other parks in its ownership, over many years.
I summarise this issue in the PDF below
None of these measures were taken by BCC prior to any avian flu, or during the incidents of botulism, and now of course the dead birds being left in situ just increase the deaths being caused by the real cause of death which is botulism.
By way of example, members of the public raised concerns in the press at this time totally independent of anything we observed. The excuses at this time did not involve avian flu, but the outcome was the same.
- “As an employer we have a statutory duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Where Staff are dealing with birds that have confirmed Avian Influenza or suspected Avian Influenza then staff must use the appropriate PPE when collecting dead birds, this includes FFP3 filtered respiratory protection, eye protection, disposable overalls and gloves, and where staff have handled confirmed cases of birds with Avian Influenza UKHSA undertake health monitoring and proscribe a course of Chemoprophylaxis for staff affected.”
- The response makes much of the non existent human health issues of this farce, much lauded by those seeking to benefit from vaccine research and doomsday viruses. For lazy hobbits at BCC it is an excuse to do nothing whilst hiding behind “elf and safety”. They claim that if there is no human health risk there is no need to remove the birds, but also use the human health risk as a reason for not removing the birds- and thus in their totally puddled world creating an environmental situation where more will die from the failure to do anything. I would add that I have pulled dead birds from the lakes in Birmingham with my bare hands, and oh, what a surprise, no effects.
“Shall I describe it to you?” Elf and safety gone mad!
- The trees on the island at this park, a top source of the dead carcases, are dead and collapsed in the water, thus adding to the contamination with the fluctuating water levels. No comment from The council on this matter.
“Nobody cares for the trees, (in Birmingham) anymore”
- As we saw at the pools in Smethwick, when ill or contaminated birds flew to other nearby pools, they started the issues there and continued the life/death cycle of maggots being ingested by new hosts. The deaths at other nearby lakes, particularly Witton, I will look at further on in this post.
- They also claimed that a ward councillor whom has been quite helpful thus far, was briefed about the issue, though she confirmed to me that officers of the council had done no such thing. It later transpired, but without apology of confirming their original lie that she had now been briefed , but with what bullshit I wonder?
- The council also appear unable to understand that the syphon in this park, over 130 years old does not work! It registers being below water level when bottles or debris gets stuck in the longest pipe, thus activating the system but not dropping it when clogged and therefore continuing to empty water well below the level it should. It does not cut off therefore as BCC think it does when it falls back below the water level- it keeps on emptying the pool, and therefore decreasing the levels to dangerous environmental levels where the birds can then ingest submerged contaminated materials. APHA guidance, of which this council have been shown countless times confirms fluctuating water levels to be a major cause of botulism outbreaks.
The outlet from the pool, the water level drop line clear. Does this look like it cut off when it fell below water, or just kept on going for many inches more as I have stated?
APHA response
BCC have clearly cherry picked parts of this to again look plausible, but Avian flu should not take precedence where there is no evidence it exists. That evidence in itself is being denied tested by the stance of BCC , and the spread of the disease or lack of it being confirmed or proven extinct.
Removing and disposing of dead wild birds – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
230327_Mitigation_Strategy_for_Avian_Influenza_in_Wild_Birds_in_England_and_Wales
Mitigation strategy – AI in wild birds
The Mitigation Strategy first published in August 2022 was updated in March 2023 and provides guidance to conservation charities and land managers including local authorities on how to prepare and respond to suspected and confirmed findings of avian influenza in wild birds.
I would note here that “suspected” and “confirmed” are two entirely different entities. The council cannot confirm, because they have failed to submit any evidence of avian flu for testing and nor do they possess any in wildfowl in their managed area for over two years. The “suspicion” is therefore baseless on lack of recent cases.
What the council have failed to quote from the document they pluck is the below from page 38, paragraph 25.5
The removal is “recommended when dead wild birds are found:
• at residential premises, in particular when in areas which may be accessed by children or pets.
• in urban or suburban areas or rural access routes, for example on footpaths, with frequent human footfall.
• in areas where the likelihood of significant exposure of carcasses to other wild birds (or other susceptible species) for example areas where carcasses can be easily scavenged, or carcasses are in key feeding, breeding and roosting areas.
This assessment will be site specific and should be made on the basis of an
assessment of the location and species of bird present.”
We therefore have here a situation where the council are content to leave birds dead in a roosting area, a feeding area and breeding area, on the island and in the water, where carcases will be scavenged and spread to other wild birds.
I have since contacted the APHA THAT THEY MAKE CLEAR AND UNAMBIGUOUS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THIS COUNCIL IN WRITING, WHICH PRODUCES EVIDENCE, TELLING THEM NOT TO TREAT ALL DEATHS AS AVIAN FLU, TO SUBMIT CARCASSES FOR EXAMINATION, AND TREAT SUBSEQUENT DEATHS AT BROOKVALE PARK, AS PREVIOUSLY WITNESSED AS SUSPECTED BOTULISM.
On 18th January I noted two dead swans at Witton Lakes, just 400 metres from Brookvale as the crow flies. Birds flit between the two on a regular basis. The water from Witton flows into Brookvale via a badly managed brook, also surprise surprise, blocked by debris. At this point, the lakes were still frozen, but the birds reachable. I am aware that they had been there for at least 3-4 days but were still fully in tact.
By now, and having rang the utterly useless Defra helpline which attempts to not take any details that you wish to report, I contacted the APHA at Shrewsbury direct and a colleague of mine drove the two birds over there for post mortem. Obviously, BCC would have just left them there as they have throughout with their non existent bird flu bullshit.
Subsequently, BOTH BIRD WERE CONFIRMED TO HAVE TESTED NEGATIVE FOR AVIAN FLU.
I TOLD YOU SO!!!!
This therefore confirms not “speculation or conjecture on my part” as fat hobbit puts it, but a true result, and not one defined to fit my hypothesis, unlike HIS.
This negative result has been relayed to them, and yet it appears they are still content to leave dead birds in the water, and thus exacerbate by useless management the more plausible botulism hypothesis.
I am fully aware that the APHA/DEFRA do not test for botulism, and this is again a failing on their part and one which fits into the picture of false AI speculation vs true cause of death confirmed. There is no doubt that sewage spillages caused by scum water operators like Severn Trent are increasing, and causing more deaths, which is an inconvenient truth the regulators and their bent MP mates do not want to address. I find it astounding, that for all the millions spent by bent academic institutions, robbing and stealing from the public purse for vaccine research, that no botulism test is available in the UK from supposed top notch world leading scientists. LET US HAVE A REAL DEBATE ON HOW AVIAN FLU IS BEING EXAGERRATED AND MISDIAGNOSED BY THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, AND DELIBERATELY POLICY LED THAT WAY BY CERTAIN CIVIL SERVANTS TO LINE THEIR OWN FUCKING POCKETS.
We shall see what comes of the Local Government and Social Care ombudsman complaint I have now made against Birmingham City Council. I am used to this now, taking on liars and proving shit authorities wrong, and obnoxious bed wetting fucking wankers who think they know better to cover their own failed credentials.
I have been advised by the APHA to report wild bird deaths at the following link, and would urge anyone else in the BCC area to not bother contacting this useless council.
Report dead wild birds – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
So once again I set forth on a quest to expose local authority lies and incompetence. By rights , I should not have to do this, but……
“It’s like in the great stories,
The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy?
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened?
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you.
That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, I do understand.
I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world. And it’s worth fighting for.”