'The DSM' Editorial - Issue 95 Squatter's rights

I am an animal lover. I feel bad when I run over a grasshopper with the lawn mower. But we had a ‘flock’, ‘flight’ or ‘kit’ of pigeons (call them what you will), thirty of them living in our barn. 

The barn was empty (we don’t have a combine harvester or any such farm machinery to put in it), so we asked a friend if they would like to keep their motorhome in it, which they did. The amount of ‘guano’ that thirty birds produce is staggering and after 48 hours in our barn the pristine motorhome was no longer...pristine. Time for the pigeons to find another home! As the barn doesn’t have a door I tootled off to the garden centre and bought some netting, which I stretched across the entrance (tying some old CDs to it, so they would see there was something there). 

This worked. The pigeons spent the next few days on the barn roof looking disgruntled. I felt sorry for them, but what can you do? They then got the upper hand in this strategic game of one-upmanship by nesting in the eves of the barn, so instead of the piles of poop on the inside they are now forming an outer ring, as well as on the roof. Back to the garden centre I went and returned with a large plastic owl (see picture), which I stuck in the middle of the lawn. Instead of moving the birds along, they seem to see the owl as a friend and guardian who watches over them. 

We have now resorted to shouting ‘bang’ whenever we go out of the backdoor, I’m sure I can hear the pigeons laughing at me. The frustrating thing is our neighbour has a beautiful old empty barn, and they’re hardly ever there, just right for a load of pigeons to move into. I need to rethink my strategy and will keep you posted of any developments. 

Whatever this month throws at you, have a good one and we hope you enjoy our March issue.





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