As the title has it, I had never had a problem with birds being all over me until I had a boat. Then they seem to be everywhere leaving bird droppings everywhere. You did know I was talking about the feathered variety, didn’t you?

Having two cats has certainly helped as they patrol the decks. The bird scarer near to our berth at Ipswich Haven is noisy but does seem to work.  You certainly notice when it isn’t on as you get swooped by seagulls.

For a few years, we have had various bird scarers which have had mixed results. We had Freddie the falcon but he flew off. Our favourite was always Ollie the owl. Our first one of these was well loved and was outside in all weathers.  This didn’t help his wings which gradually fell apart and eventually we had t send him to the big nest in the sky, a sad day. We tried many others without luck until I saw one of our neighbours had a new Ollie. Another search on the internet and we found him again! Now Maria is happy that the boat is protected by her scary-eyed owl!