Crow Scarers In Winter

[weecalf]

Is it all right to have what sounds like crow scarers boom out this last two months .from nine in the morning to dark every day .do the jolly farmers need a permit or indeed are are they legal and can the they stopped from doing it

[2sp_]

Farmers do not need a permit to set of crow bangers or scarers.

They are perfectly legal and necessary to protect crops from bird damage.

It's not just farmers that use them. Airports need to scare birds away from the runways.

[weecalf]

So we grin and bear it the .Do they get a grant for it as well ?

[2sp_]

There is no grant to scare birds.

If farmers don't keep birds of their crops, the harvest will drop. Low harvest means less grain. Less grain means that the price of food will rise.

And the general public will complain about farmers. Again.

If you choose to live in the countryside, you have to accept that people are tying to earn a living from the land and put food on everyone's table.

[RATTER15]

If it is bothering you just talk to the farmer and he may be able to move it futher from your house or face the device in another direction. I know they are a pain but I'm sure the farmer sees it as essential.

There was one near my house once, I decided to be sneaky and turn it off one night, I couldnt find it until it went off about 3 feet away from me in the undergrowth, I nearly crapped myself.

[jomifl]

What crops do crows/rooks damage 2sp?

[weecalf]

winter crop ?

[2sp_]

Birds will scape up seedlings and small shoots to get to the seed itself, eat the shoots or scrape around to get insects or worms and dislodge the plant.

[2sp_]

Sorry, jomifl, I hadn't quite realised what you meant.

Yes, it would be winter crops.

[jomifl]

Ta 2sp, I can't imagine corvids eating seeds as they are mainly insectivores and are usually looking for grubs in farmland but when push comes to shove I suppose they eat whatever they can find.

[2sp_]

And it's not just crows, even though bangers and scarers tend to be called crow ...

Geese are a huge problem at this time of year and can strip a field in a surprisingly short period.

[Barmaid]

Winter wheat and barley is sown in the autumn so the crows will be after the lovely juicy new growth. Winter barley is more often used for animal feed, with the spring barley used for malting. Winter wheat has a slightly higher crop and will be used for milling.

[2sp_]

Yes jomifl, crows will go for insects, geese will eat anything that is green.

[boxtops]

...and in bad weather, large flocks of these birds will land wherever they spot a good dinner, unless there are scarers in place. They laugh at scarecrows....

[Barmaid]

Crows will eat ANYTHING.

[2sp_]

Even the damage all those little feet plodding around on new shoots can be quite impressive.

[ChillDoubt]

I remember the first time I heard a crow scarer. I was stood just the other side of the hedge from it. I was on foot patrol in Northern Ireland.

It was an unpleasant experience!

[jomifl]

Barmaid, they don't eat tomatoes or cucumber, believe me.

[Barmaid]

The worst damage I saw crows do was at a friend's who keeps sheep. One of his lambs died (naturally). The mess the crows made of it in a couple of hours was like something out of a horror movie.

[2sp_]

Crows are nasty, BM. I've seen very small lambs had their eyes taken when they were still alive.

Hideous.

[jomifl]

2sp, that is nothing to do with nastiness, it is to do with survival.