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Calls to deter roosting starlings from Great Yarmouth street

Andrew Turner/BBC Trees in Kent Square, Great YarmouthAndrew Turner/BBC
Roosting starlings make these trees in Kent Square their home over winter - but locals are fed up with the mess they create

Residents are calling on a council to deter nesting starlings after the birds left houses, cars and streets covered in bird mess.

People living in Kent Square, Great Yarmouth, say starling murmurations may be beautiful - but the nesting birds create a hygiene risk.

Laser lighting and tree trimming have so far failed to deter flocks.

The borough council said it regularly cleaned the area but the trees were protected by preservation orders.

The starlings have now migrated for the year.

Linda Davidson, 61, said she was glad they had gone, but dreaded their return in October.

"People keep taking pictures and saying how lovely it is but it isn't if you are living here," she said.

"It's terrible, you've got hundreds of thousands and when they come in at a certain angle, the sky goes black and the sound is horrendous.

"It's in the trees and the smell is horrendous. If it was a chicken farm it would be shut down."

Andrew Turner/BBC Samantha Cowens holding baby daughter beside car roof covered in Starling guanoAndrew Turner/BBC
Samantha Cowens in Kent Square said the smell of bird guano was "disgusting"

She added that the council had been sending a daily sweeper around - but claimed that service had stopped.

Samantha Cowens, 42, said: "It's completely disgusting, the smell, and dealing with the mess on the car and the house."

She said the stench lasted for months after the birds migrated because the council left the mess on the grass.

"I've been living here seven years and I did clean it all off [the house] and repaint it at some point but it only takes one winter for it to end up in that state again," she added.

She said she was "embarrassed" to drive her car to work in Norwich covered in starling guano, so tried to clean it before every use.

Andrew Turner/BBC Toyosi KoledoyeAndrew Turner/BBC
Toyosi Koledoye said the smell was off-putting but the trees belonged to the birds

Toyosi Koledoye, 39, moved to the area this month.

"It's a beautiful sight but the mess is not beautiful - the house, the windows, everything," she said.

"It's not good and I don't think it's healthy. We have to live with it because I think they [the birds] own it."

Andrew Turner/BBC Mary Bates beside car covered in Starling guanoAndrew Turner/BBC
Mary Bates, 65, said the birds left the area in a state

In a statement, Great Yarmouth Borough Council said: "In the past, the council had used lasers to attempt to deter starlings in Kent Square. Unfortunately, this had very limited impact.

"About 18 months ago work was also carried out to reduce the size of the canopies of the trees. This did have some impact on the number of starlings roosting.

"However, the trees are covered by preservation orders, which cannot be removed."

The council's arborist team said further work to reduce the canopies could not be carried out until there is further growth because it would affect the integrity of the trees.

The council added, whilst it does not clean private properties, "there is a plan in place for enhanced cleansing of Kent Square.

"If sweepers are available we look to carry out daily cleansing to tackle mess where we can.''

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