ANGRY neighbours are spitting feathers over a rat infestation they claim was caused by the Weymouth birdwoman.

Residents of Portmore Gardens say Barbara Simpson has been feeding the birds outside her flat again.

They warned that the problem has got significantly worse and they are now regularly finding rats in their gardens.

Now her landlord Weymouth and Portland Housing (WPH) is cleaning up twice a day after her and considering legal action.

Mrs Simpson, who puts nuts and bread out for the birds from the early hours of the morning, was jailed for three months in 1997 after refusing to stop feeding the wildlife outside her then home in Preston.

She moved into Portmore Gardens around five years ago and neighbours say she has made their lives a misery.

Mother-of-two Anna Milne, 42, said the problem had escalated and residents were at the end of their tether.

She said: “All of a sudden it’s just got ridiculous.

“She’s gone back to putting all the nuts out all across the footpaths and across the car park.

“She starts feeding the birds at quarter to six in the morning and you can hear the birds squawking.

“I have had rats in my garden since a year or two ago but it has got far worse recently.”

Carol Homer, whose garden backs on to the car park where Mrs Simpson lays out the food, said: “We have got rats now so we can’t let our dogs out into the garden.

“It’s got worse recently as the rats are right under my shed. I don’t want to go down there anymore.”

Next door neighbour Lynn Hanger said she was appalled when she went out into her back garden.

She said: “There were five baby rats running round and three absolutely huge fully grown rats.”

When questioned over the accusation that her feeding the birds had caused problems with rats, Mrs Simpson said: “There isn’t a problem, it’s all rubbish.”

Head of the Weymouth and Portland Housing (WPH) environmental team Neil Percival said the company was committed to dealing with the situation “The environment team is tasked with keeping neighbourhoods clean and safe and that’s exactly what we do in Portmore Gardens.

“We visit this particular site twice a day, every day, to clean and sweep up things like nuts, bread and seeds that have been left out for the birds and every effort is being made to ensure that the area does not attract rats and other unwanted visitors.”

WPH team manager Ian White added: “Our area housing officer has visited Mrs Simpson regularly but her history is well documented and, when someone has been prepared to go to prison for feeding the birds, there is not a great deal of reasoning that can be done.

“But we will continue to look for a solution and it may be that we will end up having to take legal action against her.”