SWLNbirds – By Imogen Howse
In scenes reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds, a UK village has been invaded by tens of thousands of starlings – which have covered everything in poo.
Residents of Rearsby, Leics., are upset about the “downpours” of bird droppings since the flock started to appear two weeks ago.
At first, locals were amazed by the beautiful sunset displays of clouds of birds circling overhead. But it quickly turned into a “nightmare”.
The birds have left behind a mountain of mess, covering cars and homes in droppings. Villagers have had to wash their vehicles and windows every day.
Some people even carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the “bombardment”.
Suzanne Mullins, 62, said: “It’s been going on for the best part of two weeks now and it’s still difficult to find the words to describe it.
“I’d seen the murmurations on TV but I’d never witnessed them for myself in real life.
“To see so many birds in one place all at the same. It’s just spectacular.
“When they leave the tree in the morning, it’s like the tree explodes. An explosion of birds.
“And then they come back in the afternoon and we watch them put on this amazing display.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before.
“I went to the back door and thought a water main had burst but it was the birds all in the trees. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Suzanne, who is a retired police officer, admits there is a downside to the huge number of birds flocking to the village.
She added: “We’ve been talking to friends in the village and they’ve lived here for 30 or 40 years and they’ve never ever seen anything like it.
“There is a lot of bird poo. You go out in the morning and everybody’s out there cleaning their cars.
“The patio’s covered in it. They keep doing the old bombing raids on us.
“It is quite spooky when you see them all gathering together and having seen [Alfred Hitchcock’s movie]
The Birds as a child it’s traumatised me forever.
“Obviously you don’t want to look up too much just in case you get one in the eye.”
Another villager, who did not want to be named, added: “At first the murmurations were just mesmerising
and amazing to watch.
“After a few days, however, the extent of the bird mess was getting out of hand.
“It’s so bad now that I’ve started covering my car in a sheet at night so it doesn’t get bombarded by the birds.
“Bird muck is pretty damaging to cars and is a devil to clean off. I won’t be sorry to see the birds move on.”
Andy Neilson, reserves officer at Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, said: “It is quite an uncommon thing to get a murmuration of this size in Leicestershire.
“It’s probably a one-in-a-lifetime event for those that do live in Rearsby.”
ENDS
