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 Great Gonerby, in Lincolnshire, are upset about the “downpours” of bird droppings since the flock started to appear three 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”.
Drew Hammond, 31, a dad-of-two and drainage engineer, said: “It was amazing to see at first but the aftermath is terrible.”
He added: “Our car got completely peppered in it. I’ve watched neighbours wash their car every day.”
Mr Hammond also mentioned that his terrapin’s pond in his back garden is littered with poo and they’ve had to cover the kids’ play equipment.
He said: “My daughters blind so when she’s not using her cane she uses the hand rails but we’ve had to tell her not to touch things.”
“It was nice at the beginning – but not anymore. It is the first year they have been here since we moved in six years ago and it is a nuisance.”
The huge swarm often turns the sky black at dawn and dusk as the birds prepare to feed or roost for the night.
Terry Hill, 67, a grandad-of-one, compared the bombardment to scenes from Hitchcock’s film The Birds.
He added: “I suppose its nature and you have to accept it but I just could not believe the mess they are leaving. We are getting torrential downpours of droppings.”
“I’ve seen people walking down the street with umbrellas on clear days and evenings so they don’t get splatted with poo. It’s been like something from The Birds.”
Resident Andrew Comtois, 44, said: “It was quite a spectacular sight at first but it soon turned into a nightmare.”
“Some streets have been completely bombarded with almost like a carpet bombing of bird poo. They have been pooing on people’s heads too.”
“We were told they should move on after a couple of weeks but it has been around three weeks now and a lot of people are fed-up by the mess.”
