Flocks of starlings destroy homes with droppings

IT could be viewed either as an awesome sight of nature or as a scene taken straight from the 1963 Hitchcock horror film classic, The Birds.

For three households in Turloughmore – from November through to March – daily ‘attacks’ from millions of starlings have been a fact of life for the past four to five years.

The householders, located in the townland of Barnaboy, are now ‘at their wits end’ in their vain efforts to wash the bird droppings off their houses, driveways and cars.

Another routine they’ve all got used to for the winter months is ‘having clothes taken in off the line by 4pm each day’ – bird droppings on freshly washed garments is just an ‘unthinkable scenario’ for the locals.

“It’s gone so bad that we have to use a tissue before turning the outside door handles – the droppings are everywhere – on houses, walls, cars and sheds,” one of the residents, Mary Forde told the Connacht Tribune.

Hers is one of three houses in close proximity to each other that have now grown accustomed to the daily arrival of the starlings just before sunset.

“There are millions of them – I mean millions – and each evening from November to March just before sunset, they blacken the skies over our houses.

“They destroy everything – cars, windows, rooves, tanks and driveways – and I just don’t know what we can do,” said Mary Forde.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, which is on sale earlier than usual, this Tuesday – or download your digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie