Darn pigeons
Passionate about perennials
Posts: 7
So everything in the garden is looking lovely, the roses are flowering, the clematis are out, the delphiniums amazingly haven't been eaten by slugs. The only problem is pigeons. We had a resident pair last year, but now they seem to have multiplied with up to six pecking at the lawn. The lawn is now covered in pigeon poo, and you can't even put a picnic blanket down. My two year old loves rolling around on the grass and that's proving hazardous! There is a lot of clover in my lawn, is that what they're after, should I put some weed killer down?
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Strange one to me, I've never seen pigeons pecking at our lawn / green stuff. Only mess we get is hedgehog droppings. We have pigeons but they only grub under bird feeders and we don't get families, only a pair or single one. Best I can suggest is hose the grass before youngster goes on it. Dunno about pigeon frighteners as I don't know why they are on your lawn. Sorry no help at all.
Fast lead. We have a wood pigeon problem. They crop grass. eat shoots on fruit trees and will decimate brassicas . Pigeons have broods every couple of months during the warmer weather. You could get a scarecrow. Old CD's dangling on a string work for a bit.
We shoot them with an air rifle.
Air rifles sounds good! Not sure my neighbours would appreciate it much though
I'll give the CDs a try, anything's worth a go!
Cabbages. The little.. well not so little blighters have pecked very pretty patterns in my lovely cabbage heads
I'd tied CDs to dangle over them, hasn't worked. A friend thought they were probably waiting for the film to start and thought the cabbages were popcorn
Hi P about
PLEASE (no poisons) if your child will roll on the grass! Poisons are still active for ages after spraying, dont believe whats on the box!!!
the pidgeons are after insects, and the bees need the clover.
get a water spray and they' like cats get fed up of being squirted!!
or try spreading a net above the lawn where they come down, they fear a trap!
good luck.
'Fraid pigeons don't eat insects - they eat greenstuff - grass, cabbages, wheat, barley, peas and field rape etc, and has been said, fruit buds on the trees.
We have woodpigeons cropping the grass on our lawns every early morning - I've never seen enough droppings to notice.
Please don't use weedkiller - as has been said the bees need the clover - just rake and mow your lawn regularly - that will disperse any droppings - two year olds have been playing on lawns nearly as long as woodpigeons have been cropping the grass and the human race has survived so far
Air rifles? Oooh no! I prefer to deter than kill, and having just picked a couple of cabbages, once I'd taken the outer leaves off I decided there was really enough for me and the woodpigeons.
Use Birdy App if you have Android device it helped me,
it generates predator calls and distress calls and it works like a charm.
Here's a link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bird
A dummy Pergrine Falcon perched up above the garden somewhere is a brilliant deterent to pigeons but you need to move them occasionally or they get used to the fact they never move. A few years ago a Gloucestershire farmer tried placing two wires across his fields and had cardboard cutouts of Peregrines attached to them. It made local news but the farmer when interviewed on 'Points West' [our local tv station], said how effective it had proven to be; the silhoette was all it needed.