Urban Bird Control

What is urban bird control?

Urban bird control is putting in measures to deter or remove problem bird species from areas where they come into contact with humans.

What are the issues associated with urban birds?

The main two bird species that need controlling are Pigeons and Seagulls.

Pigeons cause problems when roosting for the night or sitting in public areas and producing large amounts of guano(poo}, which contains quite a few diseases which are dangerous to humans.

They will try and get into buildings where possible, which results in expensive specialist cleaning bills.

Seagulls tend to be seasonal. Between March and August is the breeding season. When gulls have eggs or chicks, anyone who goes near them will get attacked by the adult birds. Seagulls can also become aggressive in public places when trying to get food.

Preventions:

There are quite a few methods to control birds.

Falconry – This introduces a natural predator into the area. The birds will keep their distance. If they don’t, the hawk will actually kill them.

Proofing – This provides methods to exclude birds from the areas they like. It could be large nets over areas where the birds like to roost or spikes on ledges will prevent pigeons sitting there and fouling below.

Visual and sound deterrents.  These can be kites, lasers and bio acoustic systems. These are things that will scare the target birds.

If licences can be obtained, destroying seagull eggs is a good way of deterring them from returning to the same site every year to breed.

Again in line with general licence guidelines , pigeons can be shot or trapped to remove them from problem areas.

Services available?

At Contego we offer all the services mentioned above.

What do you think is the best Urban Bird Control Method and why?

Unfortunately there isn’t a best method. It’s a question of finding which techniques suit which situations and often a range of control methods including standalone scaring devices are required for maximum control . Lethal control can only be used after all non lethal methods have been exhausted and is a key factor in licence applications for 2021.