Families' 'total nightmare' as pigeons lay siege to flats

The birds have attacked windows and balconies with droppings, left some residents afraid to venture outside and others struggling to sleep at night because of the constant noise. One family in one of the worst affected flats on the top floor of the Hyvot Green block have been forced to flee their home as a result.

The pigeons are thought to have invaded the area after being forced out of a derelict building nearby and have taken to roosting en masse on the roof.

Louise Cameron, 30, and her children, Niomi, nine, and Ryley, two, have been spending a few nights each week with relatives to get some respite from the birds.

Miss Cameron, who has lived in the flat for nine years, said the city council had been unable to help because she owns her flat.

The stay-at-home mum said: "It's a total nightmare. Ryley is teething and he is getting woken up every night by the birds, which make noises and hit the window. When you look outside, it's like looking into a cave of bats.

"The pigeons prevent me from staying in my flat seven nights a week because I need to make sure that my kids get a good night's sleep and are not disturbed.

"Health issues are my main concern first and foremost. I won't even open the vents in the flat because pigeons are vermin and I don't want to take any chances."

"You can't even see out the windows now because of the mess. The smell is horrendous – it's disgusting."

Miss Cameron's mother, Ann, 57, added: "The problem started when all the windows were taken out from two blocks of flats nearby, and the birds started living in there. After the flats were demolished a few months ago, the pigeons moved over here. It is totally horrendous and it's affecting their health. When Louise and the kids are in the flat they all feel ill, but when they stay at my house they have not got a problem."

After complaining to the council, Miss Cameron, who bought the flat from the council in 2002, said she was told that because she owned the flat, they could not help. She said she could not afford to install spikes and nets to deter the birds at an estimated 30 a metre, adding up to hundreds of pounds.

There are eight flats in the block, with three owned by Dunedin Canmore Housing Association. Graeme Russell, director of tenant services for the housing association, said: "There were a lot of pigeons roosting in a next-door block, which has been demolished. They've simply found the next nearest high point to roost.

"I sympathise with the problem, but since she is not one of our tenants we can't help."

Miss Cameron's neighbour Jemma Shaw, 26, who lives with her fianc, David McDermott, and two daughters, Ellie, 2, and Erin, six months, has also been plagued by the pigeons.

She said: "I can't even open the girls' bedroom window to let fresh air in.

The windows are covered in birds' droppings and I've been too scared to open them to clean them because pigeons carry disease."

Miss Shaw, a dental nurse, added: "I think it's ridiculous that the council won't do anything about this, there are families with young children in the block. We can't even hang our washing out."

A city council spokesman said: "We have visited Miss Cameron's flat and given her advice. The council's obligations relate to rats and mice, but not to pigeons."