Pest control in Burgess Hill: how pigeons took over our shop front

 I run a small gift shop near the town centre in Burgess Hill, and for the first few years the worst thing I had to deal with was the occasional delivery going missing. Then the pigeons arrived. It began with one or two perched on the shop sign, which I barely noticed. A month later there were eight or nine, and the pavement outside looked like it had been painted white. 

I did the usual things first. A rubber owl that the birds treated as a handy perch, some spikes from a DIY shop that were fitted slightly wrong, and a lot of shouting from the doorway. None of it lasted more than a couple of days. Customers were starting to step around the mess, and one regular told me, kindly, that she had stopped sitting on the bench outside. That was when I admitted this was bigger than a weekend fix. 

Why pigeons keep coming back 

What I learned quickly is that feral pigeons are creatures of habit. Once a ledge, sign, or awning has proved safe and sheltered, they return to it again and again, and they will happily nest there too. Their droppings are more than unsightly. They can damage stonework and paint, block gutters, and carry bacteria that nobody wants near a shop doorway or a café table. Any pest control in Burgess Hill business owners hire needs to treat it as a hygiene issue as well as a tidiness one. 

The birds are drawn to wherever food and shelter sit close together, and a busy high street has plenty of both. Dropped crisps, bins left open, a nice flat ledge under a canopy. It is a pretty ideal setup from a pigeon's point of view. 

What actually worked 

In the end I called Betapest, a local firm that has been doing this since 1985, and the approach was nothing like my DIY attempts. Rather than just trying to scare the birds off, they looked at exactly where they were landing and roosting, then fitted proper bird proofing to those spots, so there was simply nowhere comfortable left to settle. The old spikes came off, the area was cleaned up, and the products used were all COSHH regulated, which was reassuring given how close it all was to customers. 

Within about a week the numbers dropped to almost nothing. A couple still glance over from the building opposite now and then, but they do not stay. It has been several months now and the shop front has stayed clean, which still feels slightly unreal after the summer I had. The bench outside is busy again, and my regular is back with her coffee on it. 

If you are dealing with something similar, my advice is to stop it early. Pigeons rarely leave of their own accord, and the longer a roost is established, the harder it is to shift. Getting proper pest control in Burgess Hill sorted quickly saved me a lot of cleaning, a lot of embarrassment, and probably a few lost customers too.