Spiky balls on top of bus shelters

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

Lately I keep seeing weird looking, maybe hand-made colourful spiky balls on top of bus shelters in London. They're approximately the size of a fist with what looks like loads of cocktail sticks pointing out of them. But all brightly coloured.

Does anyone know what these are or where they are coming from?

I would take a photo and post it but I thought someone on here might know what I was talking about...

[hencole]

It's probably the HIV virus. Another reason to avoid public transport.

[mook]

They're pigeon botherers.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

They're pigeon botherers.

How does that work then? Are pigeons scared of spikey things?

[Neville Chamberlain]

You can often see thousands of spikes on ledges or protruding shop signs to stop pigeons landing on them. Pigeons are about as scared of impaling themselves as humans are.

Mind you, I'm not sure why spiky balls would have an effect...

[mook]

They're pigeon botherers.

How does that work then? Are pigeons scared of spikey things?

Quite the opposite, they love spikey things, they also love brightly coloured things. Combine the two together and evenually after pricking themselves a couple of times the pigeons will associate brightly coloured spikey things with pain, and then with all bus stops and in the end will fuck off back to the countryside where they belong and stop shitting on people waiting for a bus.

[butnut]

The Oval cricket ground spent thousands and thousands of pounds installing these anti-pigeon spikes on every surface at the ground (apart from the seats, pitch, stairs etc comedy fans) as they had a big pigeon problem. The birds can't roost there anymore, but they still fly down and eat all the grass seeds  and any other bits of rubbish lying around.

[Lady Beaner]

They're pigeon botherers.

...And so that tramps cannot sleep on top of them.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Why don't they just poison them all and then employ some council workers to hoover them up and use their remains for the chicken nuggets?

[PyramidHead]

So that tramps cannot sleep on top of them.

Why don't they just poison them all and then employ some council workers to hoover them up and use their remains for the chicken nuggets?

Harsh but fair social policy.

[Caroline]

I saw one of those the other day, I know exactly what you mean. They look like spiny baby piñatas. I have no idea what they are.

[Mildly Diverting]

They look like spiny baby piñatas. I have no idea what they are.

Me neither.  :-)

[gazzyk1ns]

The Oval cricket ground spent thousands and thousands of pounds installing these anti-pigeon spikes on every surface at the ground

Hah - what, even the pi-

(apart from the seats, pitch, stairs etc comedy fans)

Aww.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

I wasn't even planning on getting a bus today but now I must go and find some to take photos of. I believe there are some near Holborn, I saw one in Farringdon, maybe on Kingsland Road also.

They are only small things, they're not there to stop pigeons sitting down, unless pigeons have some sort of psychological aversion to them.

[Caroline]

No they're definitely nothing to do with pigeons, I think the one I saw was on the road between Elephant and Castle and Borough, and I remember being curious about it for a bit, I had no idea there were several of them about.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Surveillance cameras? Art installations? We need pictures!

[gazzyk1ns]

Edit: Posted whilst Jim was posting, obviously.

Why are you two so sure they're nothing to do with pigeons?

[ColaCoca]

now I must go and find some to take photos of.

Careful, one will be on the front page of the New York Times before you know it.

Perhaps they are tiny babies arriving from the planet Krypton.

[Caroline]

Unless the pigeons have made them as some kind of Arts and Crafts project, I can't see how there'd be a link. If I could post a picture of one you'd understand, they're too small to feasibly be an attempt to keep pigeons off.

[Murdo]

Are they not some type of solar panel thingy? [/technical]

[Neville Chamberlain]

Are they baby hedgehogs?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Are they from the terrorists?

Won't somebody think of our children!?

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

[garyglitter]I'm thinking of your children[/garyglitter]

[MonkeyDrummer]

Aren't they some sort of transmitter for the bus stop to do with the nxt bus, txt us service?

[ColaCoca]

Is this them?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/143639184/

[Caroline]

Yes! That's the one.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

Is this them?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/143639184/

Unfortunately I cannot access flickr at work, but I believe Caroline.

Does that actually explain what they are?

[sick as a pike]

That site then links to the Londonist

Old Street and its environs are famous for guerilla art. Half the buildings in the area are practically held together by a decades-thick veneer of spray paint, posters and wheatpaste. But in recent months, this creative street art has come 'off the wall' and entered the third dimension. A slew of surreal objects has been left atop the area's bus shelters. Why? We don't know. It's bonkers. But brilliant. We particularly like this series of pronged potato-type things along the 55 route between Clerkenwell Road and Shoreditch High Street. The beauty is that they're entirely invisible unless you're on the top deck of a bus.

[Purple Tentacle]

LOL RANDOM!!1


Bugger, I was really enjoying the mystery of this thread, now it turns out to be some Shoreditch cunt trying to become a flavour of the month.

[ColaCoca]

It's bonkers. But brilliant.

Uh huh......