Crow attacks cause horror on city street

Residents in a Stirling street claimed they were under attack from a flock of crows.

The birds had been tormenting those living in Maurice Avenue, Braehead, by launching early morning attacks on their cars.

Residents there were calling for overgrown trees in the street, where the crows were nesting, to be lopped in a bid to stop vehicles being targeted.

Car owners had windscreen wiper blades pecked off, windows left covered in scratches and saliva and rubber seals around windows and wing mirrors disturbed by the winged vandals.

Householders trying to get a good night’s sleep said they were woken by the birds squawking loudly as early as 4am most mornings.

Motorists resorted to buying large covers to put over their vehicles at night to stop the troublesome birds causing further damage.

Tormented car owner Ian Welsh, 56, had lived in the street for seven months and complained to Stirling Council about the trees. He said: “The crows have scratched the car and they come and sit on the wing mirror and peck away at the windows and wing mirrors and they peck at all the rubber seals.

“They wake you up at about 4.30am and you can hear them pecking away. You can hear the tap, tap, tap.

“I’ve seen myself getting out of bed and going out to chase them away. I had to go out and buy myself a car cover because of them.

“We want the council to come and lop the trees down or do something to get it cut back a bit

“I have had to spend £10 on a new window wiper blade and another £30 for a car cover.”

Janet Hunter, who lived in the street for five years, compared early morning there to the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic ‘The Birds’.

She said: “One morning at about 4.20am I thought someone was breaking in to one of the houses but when I looked out it was a crow pecking at a fence across the street.

“They are so brazen. They will be out in the garden and won’t fly away until you walk all the way up to them.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. You see them going after the gulls too. I have never seen them aggressive like that.

“It puts me in mind of the Hitchcock film. I’m just waiting for the rest of them to arrive.

“On Wednesday morning I actually looked out and there were three crows sitting on the car with the front window wiper in their mouth and they were trying to fly off with it.”

Alison Mckechnie, who lives in the street with her three young children, has also had her car damaged and even made a gruesome discovery in her garden.

“I actually came home from work one day and I let the dog out. When I went out and looked at the paddling pool there was a big dead crow floating in it.”

The Stirling Observer’s resident wildlife expert Keith Graham gave one possible theory for the bizarre behaviour, saying: “The likely explanation is that they are attacking their own reflections, thinking of them as rivals for either territory or mates.”

A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We are investigating the issue and will respond to the resident directly in due course.”