Wimbledon: Mike unnerved by owl scarecrow on the Henman Hill
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Mike Bushell has returned to Wimbledon this week for more insight into the world’s biggest tennis stars ahead of their upcoming matches. However, the BBC Breakfast presenter admitted to Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt he was rather unsettled by a rather bizarre new feature to the competition.
The BBC’s chief sport presenter spotted an uncanny owl scarecrow during his visit to Henman Hill on Thursday morning.
Officially named Aorangi Terrace, the Hill overlooks the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, where fans can watch the annual tennis tournament take place.
This year, the grounds had been fitted with moving models of owls to keep other bird intruders at bay.
“One thing that’s slightly unnerving on the Hill this morning, I’ve never seen this before in all my years at Wimbledon,” he said.
“Are these owls, dotted around the place. Plastic owls.”
The camera proceeded to zoom in on one of the models, which bear a striking resemblance to a real owl sitting on a stump of wood.
Mike cautiously sidled up to the owl to give its head a prod to demonstrate its lifelike movements.
The scarecrows feature a turning head on a swivel to mimic the movement of a real owl searching for prey.
“I don’t want to get too close,” he joked as he crouched down to give the owl a poke.
“Quite unnerving, isn’t it? Swivel heads. Basically to keep the pigeons away before the crowds arrive.
“All the bits of food left from the big crowd last night, they don’t want the pigeons to come and clean it up.”
As Mike continued to present, another fake owl lurked just over his shoulder, so it was obvious a number of the models had been deployed to keep the Hill clean.
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He then conceded: “So far, I have to say, I haven’t seen any pigeons! So, well done owls, they’re working.”
From the BBC studio, Naga chimed in: “There’s also no food for them to pick up anyway. It looks very neat and tidy, Mike.”
However, Mike insisted there was still plenty of litter spread around the green from the day before which wasn’t getting picked up by the camera.
“Oh no, I can see bits of cucumber,” he said as he gestured around the hill.
“There’s some gherkin over there. Yep, there is food, I can vouch for that.
“Making me quite hungry, actually! Not that I’m going to start picking at the cucumbers.”
Naga then burst out laughing when co-presenter Charlie likened Mike to one of the litter-picking Wombles.
Fans at Wimbledon can expect plenty more high-stakes tennis as the day continues with hopefully no pigeons in sight.
BBC Breakfast airs weekdays from 6am on BBC One.
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