Exceptionally noisy neighbours.....crows!

Sooki

Another thought, is there an owl sanctuary near you?

The one by us does events and will come to your house to do children's parties and the like. So you could have an event that would raise money for a good cause and annoy the crows at the same time!

G_M

dacouch wrote: »

I live in Central London and there is a lot of noise from traffic and emergency vehicles. Is there any way I can shoo these noise polluters away?

Some of the suggestions other posters have already made may be useful, or adaptable:

* a shotgun, or air rifle?
* get a cat. though in your case I'd recommend a large one - leopard? Tiger?
* a scarecrow. Oh sorry - you said London. Already many scarecrows in London...
* decoys. Terrorists work well in London, but only as a short-term solution.
* Cut down, set on fire, or otherwise reduce the size and number of habitable buildings
* Pest controller (No, sory thats for the rats in London. Mind you, not much difference....!)

novo_2

I can't believe people would or have been shooting birds and rabbits. No excuse for that! There are alternatives that won't harm the animals. And sparrows making too much noise? They're just little tweeting birds! We've had them in our roof and never thought the noise was bad. We get woken up early morning by seagulls, pigeons, pheasants and even peacocks, but that does not mean we want to kill them! Many people definitely need their morals checking.

*Robin*

harrup wrote: »

Unless you are hearing impaired or have a REAL odd sense of accoustic pleasure, there is no way that their incessant screeching and cawing doesn't drive you barmy. It goes on virtually ALL day, EVERY day ( unless it is hammering with rain).

You could try renting one of these for a few days:

http://www.karcher.co.uk/uk/Products/Professional/Highpressure_cleaners/Cold_water_highpressure_cleaners/Super_Class.htm

Apply with gusto - won't hurt 'em, just make them want to be somewhere else. Corvids learn fast.

(Being sneaky, I'd acquire a large cardboard box to put over the pressure washer. Then if the [STRIKE]multitude[/STRIKE] murder of birds returns, getting the box out of the garage may fool them into leaving again - at least for a few weeks).

dacouch

G_M wrote: »

Some of the suggestions other posters have already made may be useful, or adaptable:

* a shotgun, or air rifle?

plenty of those around here
* get a cat. though in your case I'd recommend a large one - leopard? Tiger? Lots of youths with very big dogs, would that do?

* a scarecrow. Oh sorry - you said London. Already many scarecrows in London...

Could I substitute tramp?

Decoys. Terrorists work well in London, but only as a short-term solution.

Would a Brazilian electrician suffice?

* Cut down, set on fire, or otherwise reduce the size and number of habitable buildings.

They're already doing that but are replacing them with bigger blocks of flats or offices

* Pest controller (No, sory thats for the rats in London. Mind you, not much difference....!)

Could the urban foxes get the rats?

I live near the Tower of London, definately don't want the birds chased away from there. The place will fall down!

geoffky

Just shoot them... Hang one from the tree.. They will soon get the message,

harrup

*Robin* wrote: »

You could try renting one of these for a few days:

http://www.karcher.co.uk/uk/Products/Professional/Highpressure_cleaners/Cold_water_highpressure_cleaners/Super_Class.htm

Apply with gusto - won't hurt 'em, just make them want to be somewhere else. Corvids learn fast.

(Being sneaky, I'd acquire a large cardboard box to put over the pressure washer. Then if the [STRIKE]multitude[/STRIKE] murder of birds returns, getting the box out of the garage may fool them into leaving again - at least for a few weeks).

YES!!! The idea of the century!!!!

Only snag....how to access the HUGE ( easily 30 meter high) oak tree to douse birds. Nil desperandum, will ponder until I come up with something....

Fab thinking - thanks!!

harrup

geoffky wrote: »

Just shoot them... Hang one from the tree.. They will soon get the message,

Noooooooooooooooooooooo, I won't.

Yes, they are so annoying that they make me WANT to shoot them.....but hey-ho so does my much cherished OH on occasion.

We can't go round murdering everything that p****s us off - remember, we are supposed to be the civilised, evolved species, right?

harrup

martinthebandit wrote: »

As I am probably the nearest thing to an 'expert'* we have on the subject I thought I would add my thoughts.

They are not crows, they are rooks and probably a few jackdaws mixed in.

If you do nothing they will return year after year, and their young will also return, in short it will keep getting busier and noisier year after year until the 'Rookery' is full to bursting.

There are four ways to deal with a rookery;

1. Remove or reduce the height of the trees, unfortunately your neighbour won't let you.

2. Shoot them, preferably with a 12 bore, same problem as number 1 (and there are more restrictions than other posters have suggested)

3. Earplugs; or

4. Get yourself a set of rook poles (although I have no idea where from, we made ours years ago from aluminium tent poles) and use them to knock the nests down, they are pretty solid things so it takes a bit of effort. Do it this weekend and repeat over the next two or three weekends until they stop trying to rebuild.

It may be easier, if you can get access to hire a cherry picker, but you are going to need it for two or three weekends on the trot so its not a cheap option.

You could, as others have suggested try all sorts of different things, scarecrows, CD's with distress calls etc but rooks are intelligent birds and will soon become habituated.

The four methods I have listed are the only ones that are effective.

*my current job is controlling birds on a military airfield.

Just wanted to say thanks for your input!

For the life of me I cannot envisage on how, or from what, I would concoct rook poles which are sufficiently long to shake the nests off a 30 meter high tree, but I will put my thinking cap on.

Mind you, somehow I can't see how my neighbour - whose tree it is - would sanction this action either ( he is blissfully hard of hearing so the crows/rooks don't bother him, as he can hear them only faintly) but I will try my best to persuade him.

[Deleted User]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Deterrent/dp/B005MW9VOM

The reviews are pretty good.