BRIGHTON is famous for its iconic murmuration of starlings over the pier each winter, and people travel from far and wide to enjoy this wonderful natural spectacle. But tragically, our starlings are vanishing before our eyes, and Brighton’s murmuration could be lost altogether as soon as 2026. 

Why?

Since the 1940s we have been waging a terrible war against nature. Unsustainable and intensive agriculture is killing our insects. Starlings eat insects (mainly). No insects = no birds. 

Together, we, the people of Brighton and Hove, own a large section of the South Downs called The City Downland Estate.

We therefore kindly call on our council, elected members and officers, to immediately implement an outright ban on chemical fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and worming treatments across our entire City Downland Estate. We also call on our council to make concerted efforts to reduce sensory pollution (noise and light), which also badly impacts on wildlife, through education and advocacy in the first instance.

Now it is time to make peace with nature and save our starlings.

Thank you for signing and sharing this petition. Steve Geliot and Lou McCurdy