PURSUING them like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, thousands of starlings have returned to haunt a Hereford couple.

Having moved from Perseverance Road two years ago, Dennis and Jenny Lewis thought the annual winter bombardments of bird droppings were a thing of the past when they moved to Bryngwyn Close.

But after the fir trees on Mortimer Road were felled this summer, the birds are again swooping on their old neighbours from their new roost.

"We thought we had seen the last of them when we moved here, but they have followed us across the city," explained Dennis. "There are trees at the back near Bulmer Avenue where they sleep.

"When we lived near Mortimer Road, the smell was so bad it affected your breathing," he claimed. "But it is now getting bad here too, and on the path at the back of the house it is like walking on a carpet."

Jenny said: "You can see the mess on the conservatory, the walls and the patio and it seems to get everywhere."

Dennis said: "I don't really know what you can do because you cannot just chop every tree down.

"Maybe they could put some type of scarecrow in the trees."

As the estimated 150,000 starlings discover their previous winter home is no more, other people are being forced to duck and take cover from the sticky bombs.

Jenny Morgan, secretary at Thorpes solicitors in Aubrey Street, said the birds made an 'incredible noise' as they swept into a lone tree opposite the city office.

"Just before dusk, the noise is amazing and the conifer tree starts to shake as they fly into it."

And one motorist will need plenty of elbow grease to clean their vehicle, which is now ingrained with muck after being parked under trees on Bodenham Road.