Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Pigeons

107 replies

rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 10:18

Aibu to try and remove nesting pigeons from a tree in my garden?

And how should I do it? I don't mean bash them over the head or shoot them, just move them along.

Do light reflectors work? Or a hawk model? 😂

They are shitting all all over the kids garden toys, they make that horrendous gobbly noise constantly and flap excessively everytime anyone goes near the tree. There's at least 4 large ones.

It's just a bloody nuisance and I'm sick of them!

OP posts:
TheHateIsNotGood · 14/06/2023 16:43

I'm sure you'll figure out something OP, loads of practical suggestions here.

Just to assuage my curiosity is it poss you can post a pic or 2 of the birds 'in tree' please?

Badbudgeter · 14/06/2023 16:43

I feel your pain. In similar circumstances I ended up hanging tarpaulins to create a shit catcher also created shade so win win.

oakleaffy · 14/06/2023 16:43

rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 10:18

Aibu to try and remove nesting pigeons from a tree in my garden?

And how should I do it? I don't mean bash them over the head or shoot them, just move them along.

Do light reflectors work? Or a hawk model? 😂

They are shitting all all over the kids garden toys, they make that horrendous gobbly noise constantly and flap excessively everytime anyone goes near the tree. There's at least 4 large ones.

It's just a bloody nuisance and I'm sick of them!

Laughing at “ Gobbly noise” ( We are on a train )
Try a peregrine hawk kite??
They are harmless at least.

They do crap- a lot.

Woodpigeons as well as ferals.

rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 16:42

And I would like to add these are massive fucking birds, not babies. As far as I can see there is no nest.

OP posts:
rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 16:39

AgathaX · 14/06/2023 16:25

Do you would seriously be totally fine that your toddler cannot use their own garden? That you have to disinfect a shitload of stuff every day? Really? I can't see many people liking this

I think it's about attitudes to wildlife really. In our garden we have lots of birds and other wildlife, including wood pigeons, jackdaws, ducks, wild rabbits. They all make a mess and I clean it up if it goes on our stuff or our young grandchild's toys.

It's far easier to teach children to be accepting of wildlife, and to encourage them to enjoy watching them and learn from them, than to be trying to evict them from your garden. We all need to co-exist.

Well that's your view and that's fine.

My view is that I want my babies to enjoy their garden without having a mass clean up every single day.

There is plenty of wildlife space for birds to move on to.

My one tree in my tiny garden is our safe space so I don't feel guilty about wanting to humanely and gently move them on.

OP posts:
rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 16:37

AgathaX · 14/06/2023 15:28

Bloody hell. What a lot of fuss over a few birds.

Nobody asked you to comment did they.

Would you be ok to go out every day cleaning the slide the seesaw the swing the sandpit and play kitchen and hose the path down before your baby can play in their garden during a heatwave ?

OP posts:
DollyDabble · 14/06/2023 16:33

Bunting, shiny foil balloons, a kite that moves around, a marble in a bag of water and on youtube play a recording of a pigeon in distress, these will all work for a while. I have a bird scarer attached to my balcony and there was a pigeon sat underneath it today 🙈 have a variety of thngs and rotate them weekly. A cheap blue tarp pinned over the toys that can be washed with a hose pipe at the end of summer. Good luck, they are persistent and i agree there droppings are vile.

canigetitmyself · 14/06/2023 16:28

We had them nesting in our guttering above our door. The shit on our doorstep got too much to beat

We had to shift them on using pest control. It's not hygienic

As soon as one lot of babies flew away, another bunch hatched. Over and over . I got fed up of the flying shitesters

AgathaX · 14/06/2023 16:25

Do you would seriously be totally fine that your toddler cannot use their own garden? That you have to disinfect a shitload of stuff every day? Really? I can't see many people liking this

I think it's about attitudes to wildlife really. In our garden we have lots of birds and other wildlife, including wood pigeons, jackdaws, ducks, wild rabbits. They all make a mess and I clean it up if it goes on our stuff or our young grandchild's toys.

It's far easier to teach children to be accepting of wildlife, and to encourage them to enjoy watching them and learn from them, than to be trying to evict them from your garden. We all need to co-exist.

canigetitmyself · 14/06/2023 16:25

We recently paid a few hundred quid to get pigeons moved on and nest removed

Although you are not supposed to, they are pests and breed continuously throughout the year and spread a tonne of shit in the process . A pest control company will do it in the name of health and safety

They come back to the same nest too. How do you stip them nesting in a tree? I dunno but call a pest control company

bobuka · 14/06/2023 16:22

My mum found an injured fledgling that next doors cat had clearly attacked in her garden the other day, so I'd say they're nesting atm so can't be moved until October time I think?

TheHateIsNotGood · 14/06/2023 16:13

And bread is very bad for most wild birds so the only wildlife your NB is attracting is pigeons, gulls and rats.

TheHateIsNotGood · 14/06/2023 16:11

YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan · 14/06/2023 15:36

My neighbour throws large quantities of bread on her front lawn when she leaves to take the dog for a walk. She's now feeding approx 40 wood pigeons and gulls at 7am every morning. They start running about on my roof from dawn waiting for their feed, so I get woken every morning. Then they feed and shit all over my car and my drive as they leave.

I tried ringing the council but he said they're not pests and there's not a lot they can do. He said I'd have to take out civil action against the neighbour which seems petty.

Now that's a PITA - some places can have by-laws which prohibit the feeding of gulls - your local town/parish council can enact by-laws if you have one. If not, the next most local council level should have the 'powers'.

GasPanic · 14/06/2023 16:04

Pigeons aren't great if you get a squad of them shitting all over your property.

I have about 3. They eat the buds of the fruit trees (destroying the fruit). And crap everywhere.

The worse thing they do is that they want to drink out of the conservatory guttering, but they are too fat/incapable of landing in it.

So they land on the roof, then slide down one of the support struts until they land in the guttering. Which is not designed to have a kilo of pigeon landing in it, and is slowly getting destroyed.

I have not employed anti pigeon yet, but may do so next year.

I also think they will eventually destroy next doors tv aerial, because every time I see them land on it it really vibrates, and when they take off it oscillates backwards and forwards for about 2 minutes - probably wrecking their tv.

Whiskyinajar · 14/06/2023 16:02

We have wood pigeons nesting at the moment. They are in the tree of a neighbouring garden. Tbh we don't mind them and they nest regularly.

That said, they are not causing the same issues the OP is describing.

In your situation you need to look at what you can do once the babies have fledged. There will be ways of discouraging them from returning. Good thing is they fledge quite quickly. You just need to stop them coming back.

Our pigeons reuse the same nest so perhaps it's a case of removing it once its finished with.

DogInATent · 14/06/2023 15:55

The more you use the garden the less the pigeons will. They're not keen on human activity.

Leastsaidsoonestscrewed · 14/06/2023 15:52

rosielemonaddde · 14/06/2023 10:36

@Snugglemonkey

It is really not self-centred of a small child to want to play in their garden.


Thank you! Grin

It is also our home that I pay a mortgage on and wish to use the garden peacefully 😂

You don't understand! They're sweet little birdie wirdies worth than you, your house and child! MN is a madhouse sometimes.

Fuckers. I'd make pies out of the lot of them. Yadnbu.

Cas112 · 14/06/2023 15:48

Can't move nest until the babies have left

OhmygodDont · 14/06/2023 15:41

Robbin shit or sparrow shit is nothing compared to pigeons shitting what feels like every 5 seconds tbh and it just seems to splatter so much bigger and further.

My neighbours garden is like a really shitty looking paintball garden now due to like 6 pigeons.

We had robins and starlings the odd poo on the egg chair or by the pool simple fast wipe done. Neighbours going to have to jet wash his whole garden 😂

gannett · 14/06/2023 15:39

We had woodpigeons nesting in a tree in our garden last month. Robins a while before that. Felt honoured to be honest. Was lovely to see the parents coming and going with food for the chicks and exciting to see the fledglings grow up. There wasn't that much shit but we just cleaned the stuff that needed cleaning. You will encounter bird shit wherever you go so making such a fuss about it is unseemly.

My advice is to learn to coexist with nature and teach your kid to do the same.

YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan · 14/06/2023 15:36

My neighbour throws large quantities of bread on her front lawn when she leaves to take the dog for a walk. She's now feeding approx 40 wood pigeons and gulls at 7am every morning. They start running about on my roof from dawn waiting for their feed, so I get woken every morning. Then they feed and shit all over my car and my drive as they leave.

I tried ringing the council but he said they're not pests and there's not a lot they can do. He said I'd have to take out civil action against the neighbour which seems petty.

Snugglemonkey · 14/06/2023 15:36

AgathaX · 14/06/2023 15:28

Bloody hell. What a lot of fuss over a few birds.

Do you would seriously be totally fine that your toddler cannot use their own garden? That you have to disinfect a shitload of stuff every day? Really? I can't see many people liking this.

AgathaX · 14/06/2023 15:28

Bloody hell. What a lot of fuss over a few birds.

GhostsAgain · 14/06/2023 15:21

We have grey squirrels in our garden, I love them they are so cute

ItsOverFlo · 14/06/2023 15:15

Well, yeah in a city, what can you do? The cat sounds like a good idea.
The birds learn quick.
Try a rescue rather than kitten. Kittens will also shit on everything till trained!