Bloody Pigeons!

[MontyDonsAssistant]

Does anyone have an issue with this or any tips?
The pigeons in my garden are destroying some things. I've lived here for over 20 years and this year it's worse than ever.

There have always been about 6 pigeons flying around but now they are taking over.

They have a nest in one tree and are constantly flying about pooping on everything. I live in a village, not a city.

They have ravaged a honeysuckle hedge by eating all the new shoots (I've tucked silver foil amongst it which is working a bit.)

But at the moment they are eating all the new growth (leaves and blossom) on a cherry tree. There can be 8 in it at any one time. I am afraid the tree will be leafless and even die.

When I'm here, I do go outside and shoo them away but it's becoming a real nuisance.

Anything you can buy to deter them?

We grew veg for years, then the wood pigeons found us and stripped all the brassicas back to the stalks. Now we net them. Then the rabbits found us, we put rabbit fencing round the vegetable plot. We have squirrels that take all the nuts (before they are ripe) and dig the bulbs out of the garden and containers, and mice that go for the peas and beans, etc. Our pigeons are lovely and fat and quite pretty, but they still destroy the cherry blossom and are really clumsy continually knocking over pots, but we don't get as many now they can't get to the veggies. The squirrels probably annoy me most now, they eat hardly any of what they destroy and also go for baby birds and eggs.

To the lady who said they are only birds ..this is true but due to avairian flu which swipes all birds including livestock they ain't so great and are hogs of any bird feeders pushing out song birds. There crap is dangerous especially if they manage to.infest a loft/shed/empty house. This year I agree it is worse than ever as we don't eat the dammed things - but talk to your local authority pest control if it's got out of control - they may be strapped for cash along with the rat infestations we seem to be plagued with at the moment, but they may have suggestions and keep tabs on the population of wild pigeon & feral pigeon does need to be monitored and the more folk contact it may get addtessed. The glossy foil works a bit 👍 plus you can tie this or streamers in the trees and hedges 👍 sadly this may put off your song birds 🫤

We have pigeons nesting in the garden and the dog gives them a good telling off when he can. The birds eat the apples - no one else does. I gave up growing veg - the wild life won. They can be bloody noisy though. Gardening discussions feel increasingly tense, one person’s weed is another’s proud statement on protecting the wildlife but we all have our limits.

Amazing how differently everyone's pigeon experience is.

We always have pigeon nests in the garden and pigeons that hang about all year. They occasionally trample new shoots in the spring before the shoots get too big to be trampled further but that's about it. Other than that, they don't cause too much hassle.

They are quite comical really. The other day I found them pulling at the dead bits of jasmine to try and get nesting material. It's stronger than they are so they failed to get any but were funny in their attempts.

An air gun?!

How dare the bastards live their life and inconvenience yours!

Exactly, Humans at their worst yet again, I'm sure the pigeons would love to be able to walk into the local Sainsburys and buy what they want to eat on their debit card. It's like these people think a wild animal has any comprehension about humans and ownership of land etc.

Without any doubt whatsoever the biggest vermin on Earth is the Human, we destroy and ruin almost everything for our own gain.

I have been a conservationist for 45 years plus, been to rallies in the past and sabos to stop fox hunting. Somehow we have introduced grey squirrels that are now deemed vermin that killed of our native red squirrel ..and now huge rise of muntjack deer ..there has to be balance. Wood pigeons have status but we now have a lot of feral pigeon that was born in cities and towns allowed to get out of hand and moved in to villages. Once folk are this species of bird...but our taste has turned to turkey and chicken. I wouldn't wish to hurt or maime another animal and mankind taking up so much space on planet earth there is a clash between wildlife and humans. Rats will kill mice and voles when hungry ..even baby hedgehogs although ours were lost from speeding twats ...maybe we should think about culling a few of our useless 2 legged species and we can't be bothered to rehabilitate them into society, we haven't got the time, patience or money for this 2024 it seems. I only wish for 'all' birds to be seen as equal and not have one greedy pig on the bird table ...we had one pair..but now we have 6 and since the avairian flu we took down bird feeders and informed the council that we have more if an influx of pigeons. Lucky for us we have Red Kites that circle but they only eat carrion ...and we did have a few magpies ..also many peoples dislike in the category of birds ..but what we have noticed since the freal pigeon is a demise in the finches and blackbirds that used to frequent the garden and trees.

Feral pigeons live in all sorts of buildings both domestic and commercial. Pigeons generally, live in groups of varying sizes and can therefore cause an issue to public safety and the fabric of the building.

• Pigeon droppings are not only unattractive causing walkways and entrances to
• become slippery but in large amounts can present health and safety problems caused by associated diseases such as:
• Histoplasmos
• E-coli
• Candidiasis
• Salmonellosis

They were also once domesticated to send messages and then discarded once communications advanced , ' hey... you're more important though 😂😂.. wow 🙄

OP, try one of these. Not harmful to the vermin pigeons. Worth a try I'd say.

HAWK KITE BIRD SCARERS | Bird Control Systems Ltd

I got silver reflective streamers for my cherry tree, I hoping they leave it alone now.

@Rosenelle40 We still eat pigeon. Can't be bothered to shoot and pluck them myself but the local supermarket often has packets of fresh pigeon breast - very tasty - nicer than pheasant IMHO.

They've decimated my cherry blossom. They crap over plants, eat the veggies and have seen off the songbirds. Plastic spikes are more effective than old cds, it's not the most attractive garden feature but is helpful near precious plants.