The railway bridge at Norbiton railway station has been in place since its’ opening in 1869, taking the railway over the road which cars and pedestrians use to get from Kingston upon Thames to Norbiton station and Kingston Hospital, a walk I, as many others, would make often.
The bridge structure, the girders, the nooks and crannies, were home to many nesting pigeons.
Every morning we ran the gauntlet of the pigeons as they returned to their nests from their early morning feast, their breakfast.
Why is it that a bird cannot seem to poo, poop, pass solids, whilst in flight? They only seem about to do their toilet once landed. I know, I have watched them. They land, turn their back to their nest, lift their tail, and poo.
Now some people may argue that birds do not have brains strong enough to reason, to make conscious decisions, to be calculating.
I disagree.
I think that the pigeons whilst flying home to their nest, spy a human walking, especially me, a human that is going to walk under their perch, their landing spot, then they pick their target and wait.
They wait until the human is in bombing ranch. They calculate, wind speed, wind direction, velocity, the walking speed of their target human, and at the correct moment, it is “bombs away“.
The pigeons must do, else why have I like many others, have been pooped upon, white runny poo.
The road and footpath under Norbiton railway bridge was white over with pigeon droppings. The authorities placed netting under the bridge to stop the pigeons getting into the nooks and crannies, but still they were able to get in, as I suspect they had undercover agents in the form of “pigeon lovers“, who slashed the netting and left food for them, just so they could poop on other humans.
Wire mesh was installed to stop the pigeons nesting and landing on areas above the footpaths, but not over the road. Was that to appease the “pigeon lovers” I wonder?
But now the old bridge has gone, and the poor pigeons have nowhere to go, no home, no nest, and they sit on a near-by roof of a house, I think wondering what has happened, homeless, waiting to take up residence in the new bridge, ready to poop again.
I just hope that the builders and engineers installing the new bridge have eliminated any nooks and crannies that the pigeons can use, and I can walk under the bridge without having to watch for flying poo.
Pigeons waiting for their new nesting home on the new Norbiton railway bridge
You know, I think I may have got it wrong, I have been pooped on by a flying seagull. Oh Poo Poo