You May Recall...................

[bluenose1940]

Some of you may recall my thread (link below) in which I covered the perils of living by the sea.

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/81749-perils-of-living-by-the-sea/

About 15 minutes ago my neighbour knocked my door and said that I might want to get a bucket and sponge on the go. He said that he was just about to get into his car when he heard an almighty bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, almost like a machine gun going off. It took him by surprise and he quickly looked around to see what was happening, and then he saw it. He described it as the worst bird bombing he had ever seen.

I have taken a photograph but unfortunately it doesn't do it justice. Although it is nice and sunny at the moment, the glare of the sun makes it difficult to see the extent of the bombing. The mess extends from the back of the car, across the boot lid and all up the rear window, across the roof and onto the windscreen. The photograph doesn't even show how bad the rear window is but, I'm sure that you will get the general idea. The was even a pile on the floor beneath the rear of the car.

I wasn't prepared to leave it in situ until I could get a better shot. i'm sure that you will understand why!!!

[rayaans]

Hope you had some good wax on :P

[Richard1200]

Should have done the same as me and bought white!

[The-Acre]

Look on the positive side, that could have been your head!!!

[Spacewagon52]

I had a Hyundai Stellar (don't laugh!) many years ago. It was bombed and I was too busy at the time to wash it off. It burnt through the paint to the undercoat on the roof. To be fair to Hyundai, they paid for the re-spray under their 6 year paint warranty!

Now I ALWAYS wash off bird poo!

[toffee_pie]

buy a car cover, I have no time for this crap (pardon the pun).

If I lived near the cost I would definitely get a cover. I detest birds, I was in Stirling a few years ago and the bloody place was riddled with the ba******.

[bluenose1940]

I know that people will say that the seagulls were here before us but, they really are a pain. I kid you not, if I could have put yesterdays 'bombing' together as one lump, it would have been almost the size of a cow pat!!!

We were on the seafront yesterday enjoying a coffee, the beach was pretty busy and, some folks just below us were enjoying a picnic when they were attacked by 20 or so gulls swooping down on them and snatching their sarnies. Only last week we saw a party of school kids visiting, they all went and bought themselves an ice cream and three of them had theirs gobbled up by the pesky gulls.

The problems have been (mostly) caused by visitors feeding them, despite the many notices saying DON'T FEED THE SEAGULLS.

I now keep a spray bottle of poo remover with me at all times but, yesterdays event would have needed four of them so the bucket was the best bet.

"buy a car cover, I have no time for this crap (pardon the pun)."

toffee_pie, do you use a car cover? If you do, are there any problems caused by such a cover rubbing on the paintwork when it is windy?

"Look on the positive side, that could have been your head!!!"

The-Acre, I was sat in the garden two weeks ago and a gull went overhead and dropped his bomb, missed my head by inches, landed on my chest! I had just changed my shirt ready to go out!

[Rabbers]

It could be argued that bird droppings (and dirty catpaw-prints) are God's way of punishing you for the sin of

excessive pride in your car, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Some neighbours and I have been developing the theory, for which none of us are equipped to seek scientific

proof, that some species of birds, mainly pigeons in our case, are likelier to target some colours of cars than

others. Of four cars regularly parked in close proximity to each other, mine is white, another is silver, and the

two others are dark shades of blue and grey. Regrettably none is red like Geoff's, so this colour would require

separate research.

Quantity-wise mine is the car that takes less hits, which is not to say I don't get a fair share. The car hit most

is the blue one, with the other two coming somewhere in between. These observations have nothing to do

with the obvious greater visibility of light-colored droppings on dark paintwork but are based on our readings

of frequency and quantity. The imagined aerial view is, of course, the significant factor in this survey insofar

as darker colours must present the birds with clearer targets against the almost white gravel surface on which

the cars are parked.

The implications are pretty sinister inasmuch as they suggest a capability on the part of the bird population

to consciously discriminate between targets and strike them with possible malicious or mischievous intent

(and, indeed, not fictitiously as in the Hitchcock movie).