Town gets in a flap over High Street pigeon mess

4 hours ago

Owen Sennittin Diss

News image — Declan Craggs is urging everyone in the town to help tackle the mess caused by pigeons

Owen Sennitt/BBC A composite image. On the left is a man wearing a dark shirt with a beard who is looking directly towards the camera with a street blurred behind him. On the right, a sign warns people against feeding — Declan Craggs is urging everyone in the town to help tackle the mess caused by pigeons

Pigeons have been leaving a town's High Street looking dirty and efforts to deter the birds from congregating have failed, a mayor has said.

Declan Craggs, the mayor of Diss, Norfolk, said Diss Town Council has tried using ultrasonic sound devices and employing a falconer's hawks to scare the pigeons away from Mere Street, but nothing has worked.

While many locals agree with the council's actions, others feel the pigeons were being unfairly demonised.

Earlier this year, Norwich City Council has also similarly struggled to find a solution for a large population of pigeons at the market.

Craggs said: "It is about taking ownership of the town you live in and the business you run.

"If everyone did their little bit, I think it would dramatically increase the appearance of Mere Street."

The council has asked businesses in the town's centre to consider putting spikes and other deterrents on their building's front ledges.

Owen Sennitt/BBC Images show pigeon droppings, feathers and other mess on pavements, which gathers at the edges of the street, where the pavement meets buildings — Pigeon droppings and feathers are making Mere Street look dirty, residents have said

Craggs has urged people to stop feeding the pigeons, with signs put up across the town - yet, he said, it has not stopped the problem.

"Some people are of the opinion pigeons have as much of a right to be here as we do, which is why we haven't taken these steps [to cull them] and are looking at just trying to keep the area tidy on a day-to-day basis," Craggs said.

Town divided

Owen Sennitt/BBC A woman wearing a fleece, sunglasses and a dark top with silver hair looks towards the camera while stood on a street, blurred in the background, with shop fronts visible — Susan French said both Norwich and Diss need to find solutions to the pigeon mess

When speak to people and businesses on Mere Street, there was agreement that pigeons were causing mess, but there were differing views on how to tackle the issue.

Susan French, 79, who was visiting Diss from Long Stratton, Norfolk, called for "drastic" measures such as a cull.

She said: "Something ought to be done, it's not healthy. In Norwich as well as Diss it's horrible."

Owen Sennitt/BBC A man with a bushy beard smiles while stood wearing an apron and white shirt behind a butcher shop counter. — Robert Goodwin, of Cannell's Butchers, said the council do the best they can to keep the street clean

Robert Goodwin, who has worked at Cannells Butchers in the town for two decades, said the situation had got worse over time, but added the council was "doing the best job they can with the resources they have got".

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Kate, the BBC has agreed to not include her surname, works at Tatters Boutique in Diss and said although the pigeon situation was a "crisis", she loved the birds.

"Every day when I open the shop there are feathers everywhere. People get stressed about it but where are they going to go?"

Tarquin James Cooke, 53, said he hoped "people will learn to love pigeons more and love their neighbours more".

Owen Sennitt/BBC Pigeons resting on the stone ledges of a large stone building with a Georgian arched glass window. The sky in blue with some clouds. — Pigeons tend to roost on ledges on tall buildings in Diss

Similar to Diss, Norwich City Council has also been trying to curb a large pigeon population at the city's market.

The authority hired a falconer and a hawk, but it failed to successfully deter the birds and the plan was hampered by opponents to the measure scattering large quantities of bird feed.

Other options that have been mooted included giving pigeons contraceptives.

Norwich City Council said it was continuing to explore a "range of humane and proportionate long-term measures to manage the pigeon population".