We have a pollycotton tent and have been hit really badly by seagull poo.
Does anyone know how to remove it safely and what with? Last year the same happened and we tried using water and kitchen roll to gently remove it, but it seems to have permanently stained, and even felt as though it was leaking after heavy rain this week.
just plain water and a soft brush will remove it, once dry a quick spray over with some waterproofer such as fabsil and let that dry and all will be fine
You can get Outwell weather guard to reproof outwell polycotton. I had some for the exact same reason, bird poo on our Harrier XL left a patch that needed reproofing....
We had a norfolk lake which got badly "bombed" when camping near trees last year,we washed off the worst with plain water and a bit of nikwax tecwash but could never get rid of all the stain (the birds had been eating early autumn berries an unwanted dye job!) bird poo can even affect car paintwork so probably the sooner the better for removal and topical reproofer may well be required.
We had white bird poo on our TT roof. I tried cleaning it off with plain water and a soft cloth, but found this made an abrasive paste which damaged the canvas.
When our current tent got hit, I found brushing it off with a stiff nylon bristle brush worked best, provided said poo was totally dry. Some of the smaller dark brown stuff just seam to peal off, just leaving a slight ring, which again brushed off.
Have seen others have achieved good results with just a strong jet of water from a hose. Staining, unfortunately, isn't something you can fix, though it may become less noticeable over time
I don't know if this is any consolation to you but we have a caravan porch awning made of the same material and had several blobs of bird poo on the roof. With the weather being hot in June it had caked on hard so what I did was when we were packing away I mixed a little washing powder into a tub of warm water and applied it with a soft paintbrush to the areas that needed treating and let it soak for about a minute or two then used a old stiff washing up brush to remove the bird poo. I kept dipping the brush into the solution and then applying it to which the all the bird poo did eventually come off. I then wiped the areas with clear water afterwards thinking it may leave some stains but fortunately it didn't.
Just thought it was worth mentioning that's all.
I haven't used the awning since it was last packed away Jim so can't give you an honest answer as to whether it needs re-proofing or not. It was my own fault though as I pitched directly under a tree so there was more bird poo than if I had pitched adjacent to a hedge or in the middle of the field.
thanks Tango55, must admit I've come to avoid sites I otherwise really liked because the amount of trees and pigeons was meaning poo on the tent every time.