FATHER and son team Darren and Reece Williams from Cleobury Mortimer are backing a controversial campaign to change the law on the protection of birds of prey.

Darren, aged 49, has been involved in pigeon racing for four decades but he says that the hobby is being destroyed by the growing numbers of birds of prey.

These include peregrine falcons and sparrow hawks.

His son Reece Williams, who is 15, is following in his dad’s footsteps with his interest in birds and had one of his favourite birds killed in an attack.

They are supporting a controversial campaign by the ‘Raptor Alliance’ that if successful would have some of the protection provided to birds of prey removed in special cases.

Darren Williams has been racing pigeons in south Shropshire for 40 years and over the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in Peregrine Falcons.

Son Reece also helps train and race their pigeons and recently on a 20 mile training session two of their best birds were killed, one of which was his son's favourite bird.

This pigeon had won two races and was top of the federation. Darren's son has been disheartened by this attack due to the high level of raptor attacks while training and racing their pigeons.

There are three quarries in the area where Darren and his son live and they say that they face constant attacks from peregrine falcons almost every time they train.

At the beginning of the year Darren and his son started racing 24 birds and they now only have nine left, most of them were lost during training.

"I know many people from across the country, that have left the sport due to the high level of attacks,” said Darren.

"It is soul destroying to see your birds being constantly attacked and injured, I think if this continues to happen we will see the sport coming to an end."

The pigeon racers, who have set up the ‘Raptor Alliance’, say that they are not looking for a complete removal of protection measures that have enabled many birds of prey to return from the verge of extinction.

But they say that there has been a strong recovery in the number of some raptors and that it is time to take measures that could provide what they call a better ecological balance.

“It is important that the tradition of pigeon racing is kept alive in the UK,” said Lee Fribbins, a representative of Pigeon racing UK and Ireland.

“This is why it is so important to have the co-operation of other people, helping us to track any pigeons which may have gone missing or are deceased.

"We want to encourage more people to take up the hobby, while lobbying for the protection of our birds to safeguard the tradition for future generations.”

It is claimed that there are around 42,000 pigeon fanciers in the UK.

But in recent years the future of pigeon racing has been threatened and numbers participating in the hobby has dropped dramatically.

It is claimed that at this rate of decline pigeon fanciers will become a virtually extinct species in 15 years.