Sitting in the sun in the garden and enjoying soft tjilp has not been done in Eelde for a long time, says Janneke and Bert Schuitma. A large group of birds, consisting of mainly chewing and rooks, causes nuisance, resulting in insomnia.
“A lot of noise and also bird droppings in your garden and on the wash, but the noise is the worst,” Janneke Schuitma summarizes. The birds are in the trees around her house. “It starts at half past four in the morning, at one point you just get sick of it.”
Because of the nuisance, her son suggested starting a petition. That happened last Friday and now it has been signed more than a hundred times. The goal: “That the municipality is going to remove the nests. Especially in the spring that is really necessary,” says Schuitma. The municipality of Tynaarlo is removing the nests twice a week that are in a tree above a hiking trail.
But according to her, the problem lies in the nests that are not removed. “In the cemetery and here at the church they don’t do that, while it helps because the birds stay away from the hiking trail.”
The municipality of Tynaarlo finds keeping the petition positive. “In this way a signal can be sent to the province of Drenthe,” the municipality writes in a response.
Rooks are protected birds and the inconvenience cannot just be tackled. Preventive measures are taken, but they do not always have the same effect. The municipality therefore wants a provincial approach to prevent nuisance. “Because if every municipality drives away the rooks, we will move the problem, we will not solve it.”
The municipality also calls on residents to always report nuisance, so that it becomes clear how great the nuisance is.
In the municipality of Tynaarlo there are several rooks colonies. In addition to the group in Eelde, nuisance is experienced in, among others, the Laarwoud in Zuidlaren and the Brink in Yde. There are also groups in other municipalities that cause noise and odor nuisance.
The province of Drenthe must give permission when a municipality wants to start something against the nuisance. For example, starting nests can be removed outside the colonies from 10 February to 10 April. Existing colonies should not be disturbed at all.