http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9723213/Birds-line-nests-with-cigarette-butts-to-repel-pests-scientists-claim.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9723213/Birds-line-nests-with-cigarette-butts-to-repel-pests-scientists-claim.html)
should work as they certainly repel most humans :lol:
These birds have got it right. The carpet beetle lifecycle has an overwinter in birds nests adjacent to buildings prior to the beetles flying to the buildings in the springtime for egg laying. If you want to avoid having little chewed bits around the skirting board edges of your good carpets due to the larvae you should clear out the house martin nests when they go away !!!
Quote from: Bobfly on December 05, 2012, 12:43:13 PM
you should clear out the house martin nests when they go away !!!
Indeed. Let the lazy, freeloading , squatting bastards build their own place from scratch when they return. :lol:
No need to knock the construction off - just clean it out!! Quite often there are dead chick remains in them too. Nests in doorways and porches and so on are worth emptying of debris.
aye I know, I was only kidding. :lol:
PS is the air-speed velocity of a house martin similar to that of a swallow (unladen and European) :D
It is a swallow, its flight speed is given in various books as 11 meters per second, or 24 miles per hour. This is the same for an unladen European swallow.
Found it on the web as well;
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_air_speed_velocity_of_an_unladen_swallow (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_air_speed_velocity_of_an_unladen_swallow)
I only know this somewhat useless information because of the Monty Python quote, and it's the only one ( bird speed) I know offhand. The quote is also incorrect, that is the flight speed at a wing beat of 7-9 per second, not 43, and an average coconut weighs 1,2 kgs. ( 2.64555 pounds). Also, an average European swallow has a wing length of 12.2 cm and a body mass of 20.3 grams ( 0.72 ounces).
QUOTE
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Who goes there?
King Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Pull the other one!
King Arthur: I am, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? Ridden on a horse?
King Arthur: Yes!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You're using coconuts!
King Arthur: What?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
King Arthur: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through...
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Where'd you get the coconuts?
King Arthur: We found them.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!
King Arthur: What do you mean?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Well, this is a temperate zone
King Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
King Arthur: Not at all. They could be carried.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? A swallow carrying a coconut?
King Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.
King Arthur: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
King Arthur: Please!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Am I right?
UNQUOTE