I’ve fixed those pesky starlings

Last year I wrote a piece for my blog called ‘The birds ’ about the problems that we were having with some starlings that had decided to nest under the eaves of our house.  The birds were not the problem per se. They were pleasant to look at, quite comical in fact, friendly enough and tended to keep themselves to themselves.  No the problem was with their faeces and the liberal and patterned way that they would smear them on the roof of the conservatory to the point that would even turn the stomach of an environmental health inspector.  Mrs J became obsessed with them and their offerings and would spend hours hosing the roof to clear up the mess and what Mrs J becomes obsessed with will soon become an addition to my long list of tasks.

It had clearly become a war of attrition but the problem remained that the point at which they had chosen to enter our roof was at a spot that was impossible to reach without investing in some expensive and unnecessary scaffolding.  It was a well-chosen refuge that was until the other day when after a long and repeated ear-bashing I resorted to Google to find a solution.  Choosing the right string of words is always the key to a good result from a search engine and once I’d played around with a few combinations I hit pay dirt.

The answer to my problem (it had become my problem by then) was to use a hedgehog.  No, not that kind of hedgehog, the one that rolls itself up in the garden leaves and you have to watch out in case you set fire to them according to Blue Peter.  No, this hedgehog is a black horripilate (nice word) brush which comes in different lengths and fits neatly into your gutter.  It’s like a long bottle brush and can be cut and bent to the correct length.  It doesn’t stop the water from running, the gutter still catches the rain but it prevents it clogging up with weeds and, more importantly from my perspective, prevents birds from sitting on its edge and crapping all over your windows.

A quick purchase, a quick delivery and a quick installation even if it meant climbing four metres up a ladder and my hedgehog is up there doing its stuff.  I was gracious enough to wait until the starlings have fledged but this year’s brood are eyeing me from the bushes and fences with a defeated look on their beaks.  They know I’ve won this time and it looks like I’ve finally managed to fix those pesky starlings.  That’s another one of my list!