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Problems With Pigeons in Our Lancashire Towns – Ken Chadwick

Pigeons and doves are members of the Columbidae family and in nature live on cliff faces and rocky places.

The high buildings in we live and work make wonderful artificial ‘rock faces’ and hence our towns and cities are frequently infested with high pigeon populations fouling walkways, motor vehicles and statues.

Frequently this problem is heightened by kind-hearted but misguided individuals feeding the birds.

However it is when these birds gain access into a roof void or upper floor of a building that the real problems begin.

Often pigeons will find a broken window or dislodged slate in the upper and often unused areas of tall buildings.

They rear the young ‘squabs’ usually only one or two per nest on a diet of various seeds and city detritus that they easily find on our busy streets.

There can be many nests in a typical roof void and a build-up of pigeon guano swiftly collects, sometimes over a foot in depth on a long standing infestation.

This pigeon dung itself is teeming with wildlife, yellow mealworm beetle, larder beetle, spider beetle and their associated larvae.

Often the first hint of a problem is when these insects start to migrate into the occupied areas of the building.

On no account should amateur attempts be made to remove this guano, breathing in the dust of pigeon droppings is associated with various respiratory disorders including ornithosis and specialist equipment is needed.

The solution to the problem is of course to prevent them from gaining ingress by sealing all holes and repairing broken windows.

However this does not prevent them from roosting and occasionally even nesting on window ledges and fouling the masonry and walkways below which can become dangerously slippery due to their droppings in wet weather.

The solution to this problem is to apply pigeon spikes onto the ledges.

These are a pigeon deterrent and do not harm the birds in any way but make the ledges uncomfortable for them to land on and they move elsewhere.

Sometimes the only solution is to remove the flock and humanely dispose of them.

This can be achieved by shooting, although this is rarely practical in a busy city environment, or trapping the flock.

Trapping involves pre-baiting of an area until the birds are habituated in feeding there and then setting cage traps to collect the birds.

This is often an emotive procedure and is best done on flat roof-tops etc where the public cannot see the traps.

For help and assistance with your pigeon or general bird problems ring Harrier Pest Prevention on 0800 019 8382.

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