Best bird scarer (subtitle, do owls really work)

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niccapotamus

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the final indignity was to find birds standing on our boat smashing shells on our coachroof. I need to encourage the birds to use a someone else's GRP pride and joy to use as a bird feeder and whelk splitting workstation.

So what works best - any suggestions? current ideas are

hanging up rows of CDs
plastic owl

ideas please?
 
MoodySabre said:
I've seen bird scarer tape on some boats - from the forestay, round the shrouds and then on to the back stay. Makes a hell of noise when it is windy but none whn it is still. Wouldn't want it on a boat next to mine in a marina.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haxnicks-GF336-BIRD-SCARER-30M/dp/B001RGUSV2
Click to expand...

The bird scarer tape is a dead loss. It destroys itself in a strong wind. TBH it didn't last long enough to find out if it was going to scare birds or not. I got some last summer, primarily for our Church tower, which has been colonised by pigeons. The day after it was fitted, there was a bit of wind, and it all fell apart. Later, I strung it up around the boat, which was being left close to a ternery. When we got back, the tape had gone, and the terns had been! Anyone got any useful suggestions?
 
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Don't know about their effectiveness on boats, but this year my wife bought a plastic owl (behind my back) and had it affixed to the ridge of the house. This was an attempt to stem the loss of cherries to local birdlife; and whether it was the owl or something else, we had a bumper crop with very little loss to thelocals.
 
When we had a keelboat on a mooring, we found the best solution was a long cord with supermarket plastic bags tied to it at intervals (practical research showed that Waitrose were best) this was tied to the forestay up to mast just above the boom and then along to the backstay. We tied additional bags to the shrouds, these precautions were moderately effective at deterring gulls and cormorants, the noise and flapping seems to make them seek someone else's boat to cr*p on.
 
niccapotamus said:
the final indignity was to find birds standing on our boat smashing shells on our coachroof. I need to encourage the birds to use a someone else's GRP pride and joy to use as a bird feeder and whelk splitting workstation.

So what works best - any suggestions? current ideas are

hanging up rows of CDs
plastic owl

ideas please?
Click to expand...

We had a neighbour with a large plastic owl on his roof here in Falmouth. Herring gulls used it as a perch....

On the boat for a couple of years we had lots of seagull/cormorant mess - lots of CDs on strings kept them off reasonably well but was nuisance to hang up every time the boat was left. Moved to another mooring not that far away (maybe 150 yds) and now get very little bird trouble even without CD strings everywhere. They seem to like specific places.
 
alahol2 said:
I've seen one of these (or similar) mounted in the ensign socket of a yacht. Not sure if it was working or not, certainly no birds around at the time.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hawk-Bird-Scarer-Crop-Protection/dp/B00CWDN3O8
Click to expand...

I can attest to these "hawks scarer's" to work. Living in a seaside town with an over abundance of flying rats, this keeps them away very well indeed. My neighbours garden and mine are free of the blighters all the time it's flying well. In fact I've watched gulls change their flying course as the hawk comes onto their "radar"...... The ice cream vendor huts on the sea front use them too, with great success I believe.
 
My owl did no good and they are big things to stow when not in use
I have had success with some plastic toy snakes from the pound shop
I tie one each on the foredeck, mainsail cover and the cockpit cover
They seem to work ok
Cheers
Nick
 
rotating type think it called "Gull Scare "brilliant and it works. Have two and not had a bird on board when in use except sparrows and finches only when moored near their habitat, on the mooring No Gulls or Ducks since fitting.
 
I keep my boat on the river frome with an abundance of bird life. I installed a plastic heron from the garden centre. The heron sits on the boom using the main halyard to hold it upright. Its done a perfect job for 8 months. I know this as when I first put the boat there in the spring she was covered in poop until the heron arrived. I move the heron around a bit, some times facing the river and at other times the reeds. I dont want Mr (Mrs) (not sure!) getting bored. Or maybe I have fooled the birds to its aliveness.
 
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nickd said:
My owl did no good and they are big things to stow when not in use
I have had success with some plastic toy snakes from the pound shop
I tie one each on the foredeck, mainsail cover and the cockpit cover
They seem to work ok
Cheers
Nick
Click to expand...

I did that with some success, until the local kids nicked 'em!

Fishing line is effective, but you need to put it everywhere & it's a damn nuisance to put up & take down when you arrive at or leave the boat before/ after a trip.
 
An old fisherman told me - 'if you can't beat em -or eat them! - join them' He went on to suggest feeding a gull, I laughed. But after having no success whatsoever in trying to stop the regular repainting of my boat decided to give it a try.
A crust on the fore deck,seconds later a gull flew down and took it, I did this a couple of times more. The gull sat on my pulpit I threw another bit of bread, a couple more and I had to leave. Next day as i arrived there was the gull (I presume the same one, but as we had not been properly introduced was not sure) sitting on my pulpit.
Shit? Not a sign. I fed it again and continued to do so until I sold the boat and its new owner took it to another port.
 
There was a plastic owl on top of one of the piles in Stranraer marina last summer. It was covered with sh*t left by the birds which perched on it. Conclusion: when other birds think an owl is hypnotised, comatose or dead, they get their own back.
 
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