An 82-year-old widow says she feels like a prisoner in her own house after thousands of flying foxes set up camp in the trees encircling her home of 60 years. 

Janice Parcell said her new neighbours wake her up at 4am every morning, have covered her home in faeces and have her frightened to leave her front door

“It’s like a nightmare that goes on and on and on,” she said.

But although the Radford woman said she could not continue living in the middle of a bat colony, authorities appear unable or unwilling to remove the bats.

While conservationists say people need to learn to live with the flying mammals, who they say are vilified, crucial for a healthy environment and are being pushed to brink by climate change and urban sprawl.

Mrs Parcell lives on the corner of Wilsons Plains and Radford Road, outside Harrisville. The neighbouring two homes are owned by her sisters-in-law, who are also widows. 

Their houses are a little island of gum trees, silky oaks, pines and an assortment of others including a jacaranda, in a valley largely cleared for agriculture. Under different circumstances, it would paint an idyllic picture. 

But all that changed in the spring of 2019. As catastrophic fires raged through South East Queensland, the first flying foxes began arriving at the Parcells place. In particular, around the home of Janice Parcell.

“The individual bats that we used to get are cute little creatures,” she said. 

“But like this ... it's awful.”