Hull: 48-year-old outlines her home's problem with pigeons
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From city centres to country gardens, there are few places you wouldn’t be able to find the UK’s most common bird. But when they nest in your property and garden, they can become more of a nuisance than usual. Pigeons are pests for a number of reasons.
Pigeons leave an absurd amount of droppings, which you may not know are extremely corrosive.
Their faeces is highly acidic, and can stain the surfaces they’re on, and can even increase the speed of deterioration of a structure.
They also produce a huge amount of debris – they produce a lot of feathers and are fond of dropping nesting materials anywhere they feel like it.
They will also not hesitate to attack crops, flowers, and vegetables if in your garden, and they will also scare off other non-pest wildlife from your garden.
What attracts pigeons?
Pigeons will nest anywhere which is safe and has a stable supply of food.
Once they have found a suitable supply of food, pigeons will likely make several nests in the area as they typically live in flocks.
Pigeons can be particularly difficult to get rid of, as cutting off their food supply is very difficult, given they will eat just about anything.
How do I get rid of pigeons?
One thing you should know before you seek to get pigeons out of your garden is that you don’t want to break the law in doing so.
According to the Wildlife & Countryside Act from 1981, it is illegal to harm pigeons, their nests (while they’re occupied), and their eggs.
Whether you choose to deal with the nuisance yourself or hire a professional, you will still be held responsible for the means of control which will be used.
Use reflective surfaces
One of the oldest tricks in the book – many of us have seen this in use.
For instance, it is common to see gardens adorned with CDs or other shiny surfaces.
The reflective surfaces create a prism effect that can temporarily affect the pigeons’ eyesight, making it uncomfortable for them – and meaning they won’t bother nesting near them.
Spray them with a hose
This will only work as a deterrent if you can catch the intruders before they start building their nests.
Spray them with the hose as soon as you see them encroaching on your garden.
Alternatively, you can buy an automatic water jet which will protect parts of your garden from the pest.
Use strong spices
Pigeons do not like strong spices, such as cinnamon, black pepper or chilli spice.
Make up spice bags in fabric bags (like potpourri) or spread a generous amount of these spices around popular pigeon nesting areas to keep them away.
You will need to replace the spices on a regular basis for them to stay effective.
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