How can I persuade a large flock of starlings to roost elsewhere? There is a very large flock of 2000-3000 starlings who, every evening roost in a row of trees and bushes next door to our house. The trees are covered in droppings and there is a bad smell as you walk past. The trees are in the middle of a town, even though the fields and rural hedgerows are under a mile away. Also ours cars and roof windows are covered in bird droppings. Is it a council issue, or something my neighbours and I need to resolve? I am a nature lover and a member of the RSPB, so want to resolve this without harming the birds.
As you may know, starlings flock in Winter, and that population each year is vastly increased by migrant birds. It is mid Feb, so they will be moving on soon. Even local starlings disperse to breed.
Thanks for your reply. So once they have dispersed, what can we do to persuade them to roost elsewhere next winter?
can you cut the trees down
The trees hide a telephone exchange. We could reduce the height of them, but not cut them down completely.
what about a hose pipe and give them a bit of a soak ?
can you also cut all the branches off as well then there is nothing to land on
Nothing realistically. However, not sure how long you have lived there, but I would guess there wasn't a problem last Winter and won't be next Winter. Although there are traditional roosting sites, they tend to be quite large scale places, incl some reedbeds and piers etc. I wouldn't rule it out, but I suspect the tree will be forgotten about and unused by next Winter.
How long have they been roosting in that place this Winter?
Starlings come into towns to roost in late winter as the ambient temperature is higher than in rural roosts and at this late period of the winter it is easier for them to forage in urban gardens. When I lived in a town our local authority used to clean the pavement daily where there was a large roost. The birds dispersed in Spring. We did have a large tree in the carpark that was also used we called it the tree of life - the landlord had it taken down and it was quite distressing watching the flock coming in and finding their winter home gone they were so confused. Please also note that Starlings are a Red List bird
Cin J