A village is being constantly drenched in bird droppings after it was invaded by a flock of tens of thousands of starlings - in scenes compared to "The Birds".
Residents have been left in a flap over the 'downpours' of bird poo splattering their area after the starlings began to appear in the skies over Great Gonerby, Lincs.
At first, locals were left wowed by stunning sunset displays of clouds of birds swirling overhead - but said it quickly turned into a "nightmare".
Since the birds began to flock to the village three weeks ago, they have left behind a mountain of mess, leaving entire cars and homes covered in droppings.
Fed-up villagers have been forced to wash their vehicles and windows daily while others are only leaving home with umbrellas for protection from the 'bombardment'.
Dad-of-two Drew Hammond, 31, a drainage engineer, who lives with partner Katie Kennett, 32, said: "It was amazing to see at first but the aftermath is terrible.
“Our car got completely peppered in it. I’ve watched neighbours wash their car every day.
“I have a terrapin in my back garden too, his pond is littered with poo. The kids play equipment we’ve had to cover so they don’t gets plastered as well.
“My daughters blind so when she’s not using her cane she uses the hand rails but we’ve had to tell her not to touch things.
"Going down the step she uses the railings but all the railings are peppered with poo. She’s an independent little girl and she won’t let us help her.
"It was nice at the beginning - but not anymore. It is the first year they have been here since we moved in six years ago and it is a nuisance."
The huge swarm often turns the sky black at dawn and dusk as they prepare to feed or roost for the night.
Another local Terry Hill, 67, a grandad-of-one, compared the bombardment to scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film The Birds.
He added: "I suppose its nature and you have to accept it but I just could not believe the mess they are leaving. We are getting torrential downpours of droppings.
"I've seen people walking down the street with umbrellas on clear days and evenings so they don't get splatted with poo. It's been like something from The Birds."
Resident Andrew Comtois 44, added: "It was quite a spectacular sight at first but it soon turned into a nightmare.
"Some streets have been completely bombarded with almost like a carpet bombing of bird poo. They have been pooing on people's heads too.
"We were told they should move on after a couple of weeks but it has been around three weeks now and a lot of people are fed-up by the mess.
"My neighbours have been hit particularly badly - their cars and windows have been left totally covered in poo."
Residents have been left in a flap over the 'downpours' of bird poo splattering their area after the starlings began to appear in the skies over Great Gonerby, Lincs.
At first, locals were left wowed by stunning sunset displays of clouds of birds swirling overhead - but said it quickly turned into a "nightmare".
Since the birds began to flock to the village three weeks ago, they have left behind a mountain of mess, leaving entire cars and homes covered in droppings.
Fed-up villagers have been forced to wash their vehicles and windows daily while others are only leaving home with umbrellas for protection from the 'bombardment'.
Dad-of-two Drew Hammond, 31, a drainage engineer, who lives with partner Katie Kennett, 32, said: "It was amazing to see at first but the aftermath is terrible.
“Our car got completely peppered in it. I’ve watched neighbours wash their car every day.
“I have a terrapin in my back garden too, his pond is littered with poo. The kids play equipment we’ve had to cover so they don’t gets plastered as well.
“My daughters blind so when she’s not using her cane she uses the hand rails but we’ve had to tell her not to touch things.
"Going down the step she uses the railings but all the railings are peppered with poo. She’s an independent little girl and she won’t let us help her.
"It was nice at the beginning - but not anymore. It is the first year they have been here since we moved in six years ago and it is a nuisance."
The huge swarm often turns the sky black at dawn and dusk as they prepare to feed or roost for the night.
Another local Terry Hill, 67, a grandad-of-one, compared the bombardment to scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film The Birds.
He added: "I suppose its nature and you have to accept it but I just could not believe the mess they are leaving. We are getting torrential downpours of droppings.
"I've seen people walking down the street with umbrellas on clear days and evenings so they don't get splatted with poo. It's been like something from The Birds."
Resident Andrew Comtois 44, added: "It was quite a spectacular sight at first but it soon turned into a nightmare.
"Some streets have been completely bombarded with almost like a carpet bombing of bird poo. They have been pooing on people's heads too.
"We were told they should move on after a couple of weeks but it has been around three weeks now and a lot of people are fed-up by the mess.
"My neighbours have been hit particularly badly - their cars and windows have been left totally covered in poo."
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FunTranscript
00:00 Really nice to see them but they do have the downside where they've had with our
00:09 car's been just been pepper dashed with bird poo I mean the car behind me has
00:14 been here for about half hour and it's already quite covered as it is.
00:19 It's a lovely sight but generally it'd be nice to see them go.
00:26 (Birds chirping)
00:48 (Wind)
01:02 (Wind)
01:13 We came down specifically to watch the mermaidation tonight and it's not
01:19 disappointed it's been absolutely fabulous. How many birds are there I don't know but
01:25 there must be well in excess of a quarter of a million I would have thought.
01:29 Yeah what a fabulous experience probably all you can say it's just one of nature's
01:36 spectacles isn't it.
01:39 (Wind)
01:54 (Wind)
02:21 (Wind)
02:35 (Wind)
02:57 My name's Jonathan Brown I live in the village of Great Gunnerby and we're
03:01 having a massive styling mermoration at the moment. So I have to sheet my car up
03:07 every day to stop the quantity of bird poop so I can see out the windows in the
03:12 morning and every evening they roost in my back garden. About now about six
03:18 o'clock when it gets dark there's clusters of them that group in the trees to
03:22 roost and about half past six in the morning it's like conch shell taking off when
03:26 they take off so I find it very interesting it's an amazing part of
03:31 nature and it's one of those things that we've got to see through. Yeah they don't
03:35 keep me awake at night because of the double glazing they'll all sit there
03:38 tweeting and twerting all night but if you open the door you can hear them.
03:44 You can hear them out there now tweeting away and that's what they'll be doing
03:49 chattering to each other all night in the dark and then in the morning half past
03:54 six it'll be a horrendous roar like conch shell taking off as they all depart until
03:59 the next evening. So and we're getting pretty used to living with it now.
04:04 It's supposed to be over towards the end of March but I mean it's been about
04:10 three weeks now and there's been more and more every day over the three weeks
04:13 but you know I mean it's been nice but an ups and downs sort of and we hope they leave
04:18 you know within the next couple of weeks. Yeah they all seem to be taking it well
04:23 it's an interesting part of nature so I think you just have to do what you
04:29 do to you know cover your windows up or your furniture and your car
04:35 and keep getting the air pipe out. It gets a bit smelly on warm days but with the
04:41 quantity of rain that we've been having it fortunately it washes it all down a bit.
04:44 So I just hope they don't come back next year.
04:49 [Birds chirping]
04:51 [Birds chirping]
04:53 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
04:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]