Thursday, 22 March 2012

keeping pigeons off the oilseed rape



Last year we had a real battle against the pigeons, which were eating our oilseed rape. This year the crop looks better, partly because there was a plentiful supply of acorns until February, but it’s still a daily job to check for damage and keep the pigeons away from the crop. The gas guns that bang at random times are moved to the patches where the pigeons are feeding and the hawk eye scarers, scarecrows and flapping plastic strips are strategically placed around the fields. Walking the fields also disturbs the pigeons, sending them up in a soaring cloud to wheel around in the sky as they decide where to land next and we also have a team of pigeon shooters who help keep pigeon numbers down. The crops that were sown this spring are now coming up and the fresh green shoots should be far more tempting to pigeons than big tough oilseed rape leaves.

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