The little busteds are back

[Robin]

You know the ones, the little flying purple crap creators. Went down to the boat this evening to wash the grime off the decks and she is covered with purple splats all new since we left her on Sunday evening.

Has anyone found a solution, furry stuffed cats? Plastic owls? Shotguns? Electric fence gizmo connected to the rig? Pictures of Jimi?





<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[Stinky]

I'm not sure that a dead sheep's going to do it

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[chippie]

I was told that a really tinny cheapo transistor radio tuned to talkback scares the buggers off. Havent tried it though, how long does a couple of AA batteries last?

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[boatmike]

Try mooring in Chichester harbour. They have big busteds there..... Either that or its flying pigs! And then the conservancy ask me not to discharge my crap in to the water......


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[Twister_Ken]

Must say I was astonished to see the starlings coming in to roost at Gosport Marina (Campers) on Sunday night. It was as bad as Leicester Square.

I was in Palma last October, and there the authorities put fireworks in the trees, which would fire off at intervals in the hope of chasing the birds off to quieter places. Dunno if it worked.

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[brianhumber]

The chap who had a decomposing cormorant at the crosstree level did not seem to suffer much last winter wereas i had foot long fish backbones, blackberry shit from mast to stern. One of the reasons I said sod it and went into Chi Marina

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[boatmike]

Yeah.... But the busteds who run the marina want loadsa cash then. Perhaps all this bloody rain will wash off the elephant poo at least....
One problem with catamarans... It increases the target area!

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[Evadne]

We were visiting Campers on Sunday, as it happens. It was the first time I'd heard the management's attempts at scaring them off. First it sounded like a car alarm, then they played a highly amplified seagull alarm call, then some crows, then back to the car alarm. You can imagine the effect on the starlings (zilch).
We sat watching them arrive for an hour or so, so if anyone's seriously interested in what did have an effect:
CDs or carrier bags along the boom have no effect (they perch on the masthead, crosstrees and stays).
Some boats seem more favoured than others, one large boat (three sets of crosstrees) seemed particularly popular, although other identical (from a starlting's point of view) boats were shunned.
The only one that semed to repel them due to the owner's attempts was the one with a set of carier bags hoisted up the main halyard: one at the top and one at each crosstree. It wasn't 100%, but a lot better than his neighbours.

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[Robin]

I think they are starlings. We don't have too much of a problem with actual seabirds or indeed starlings at other times of the year, but currently they seem to be gathering like in the Hitchcock movie and someone oredered them a truck load of takeaway blackberries. Several boats have had wind indicators broken too I was told and last night there seemed like 7 or 8 of them on every masthead. We have white decks and it shows but in any event these are mini volcanos of purple pips and crunchy underfoot. I sure wouldn't want them doing it on nice new teak decks!

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[Capt_Marlinspike]

I have a theory that it is the colour of the boat that attracts them. My boat has grey topsides and gets little attention from the birds. The boats either side of me have white top sides and sport a rich coat of guano.
Similarly looking at other boats in the river there are two identical motor boats close to each other. One has a green cover the other a blue cover. The boat with the green cover regularly has a couple of dozen ducks roosting on it while the blue one has none.
An other observations to support the theory?

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[castaway]

I have stainless steel Mig welding wire tensioned with short lengths of shock cord set up about 10mm above each spreader.

It works!

Only problem comes when it gets broken,at which time one realises just how effective it is when in place.

Put yr self in the mind of a Cormorant on "short finals" finding a piece of wire at knee height, and you will understand why they have taken to shitting on the adjacent boats!!

Nick

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[Twister_Ken]

Wouldn\'t work at Campers

where feathered fiends cling to shrouds and stays as well.

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[cameronke]

Interesting hypothesis Alan

I have blue treadmaster on my decks and blue stackpack and furling genny sacrificial strip and virtually never have any trace of guano. I am on a swinging mooring but cannot say how my neighbours are affected. I shall check to see how boats surrounding me of different colours are.

Regards
Cameron

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[wooslehunter]

Have blue spray hood, sail cover, dodgers & UV strip on the genny plus loads of purple poo.

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