Anti social bird scarer use.

[DrWazzock]

Bangers alone aren't very effective for rooks, maybe work for half a day. They are clever birds. You need a couple of scarecrows with hi viz vests on, moved about regularly with some carrier bags or something that rustles in the wind. String some birds up will deter others.

It is very frustrating. I have every sympathy for the farmer trying to save his crop. I had a fair bit of trouble last year.
Understanding and consideration is needed on sides.

 

[Dry Rot]

Well rooks are a bloody nuisance, so them I think.
Yes they are in the air well before dawn at times but there has to be a limit between crop protection and common decency.

At 5am??

 

[Lazy Sod]

Can't you just go and turn it off?

 

[Zippy768]

That's exactly what I've found, repeated use doesn't discourage rooks.
Yes, walking round, showing your face does spook them enough to move on.

Have you ever met a Rook? They are clever birds. You walk around they will fly off, as soon as you leave they will be back. They soon learn what a gun looks like and soon learn that bangers will not harm them.
If there is food they are v hard to move off.

 

[TonyMartinwasright]

Just got back in.
Neighbours gas banger going off twenty to five this morning.
I have identified it and can give the company phone number a ring but do not expect anyone to answer on a Sunday.
Neighbours are a big noise in the nfu, but I am annually amazed at their lack of attention to these noisy bloody things, pre dawn.

This one is sited close to a village, and we ask the public for their support ?

I feel utter frustration that whoever puts these guns out has no thought for the area they are in, and can only assume the people involved live nowhere near these delightful machines.

 

[TonyMartinwasright]

I have come to the conclusion they are not being used to scare pigeons here anyway but more to "condition" the game birds ready for the boxing day shoot. There are a few patches of pheasant cover growing locally but practically nothing else. We had 2 weeks of respite in early September (after June July and most of August were written off due to a smallish field of cauliflowers) when there didn't seem to be any going off but it's been continuous since. Because the land is let out and worked by multiple different contractors, trying to locate the poxy gas guns or the operators pretty much impossible. Council are a waste of space, time and effort. Believe me if I was young enough and a lot fitter the damn things would be rounded up and weighed in for scrap!

 

[Jon]

At 5am??

A little early don't you think ?

 

[Jon]

Can't you just go and turn it off?

Yes.
I'm sure there are more ideas from those a lot closer.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Have you ever met a Rook? They are clever birds. You walk around they will fly off, as so as you leave they will be back. They soon learn what a gun looks like and soon learn that bangers will not harm them.
If there is food they are v hard to move off.

Shoot one , you will soon see the difference, like you say they are not stupid.

 

[Jon]

I have come to the conclusion they are not being used to scare pigeons here anyway but more to "condition" the game birds ready for the boxing day shoot. There are a few patches of pheasant cover growing locally but practically nothing else. We had 2 weeks of respite in early September (after June July and most of August were written off due to a smallish field of cauliflowers) when there didn't seem to be any going off but it's been continuous since. Because the land is let out and worked by multiple different contractors, trying to locate the poxy gas guns or the operators pretty much impossible. Council are a waste of space, time and effort. Believe me if I was young enough and a lot fitter the damn things would be rounded up and weighed in for scrap!

Sounds more like guarding rape with those months involved.

 

[Zippy768]

Shoot one , you will soon see the difference, like you say they are not stupid.

Absolutely. Shoot a few and hang them up. Sounds a little barbaric but it gets them in a tizzy.

My point was having a walk around a few times a day will do v v little.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Absolutely. Shoot a few and hang them up. Sounds a little barbaric but it gets them in a tizzy.

My point was having a walk around a few times a day will do v v little.

I often think they are as clever as to think, oh there he is old so and so , he couldnt hit a haystack at 20 paces

Yes, the key is to kill one or 2 , i daresay the gamekeeper wouldve set up a hide to get a better shot.

 

[Shutesy]

I have come to the conclusion they are not being used to scare pigeons here anyway but more to "condition" the game birds ready for the boxing day shoot. There are a few patches of pheasant cover growing locally but practically nothing else. We had 2 weeks of respite in early September (after June July and most of August were written off due to a smallish field of cauliflowers) when there didn't seem to be any going off but it's been continuous since. Because the land is let out and worked by multiple different contractors, trying to locate the poxy gas guns or the operators pretty much impossible. Council are a waste of space, time and effort. Believe me if I was young enough and a lot fitter the damn things would be rounded up and weighed in for scrap!

And then you would be done for theft! Gas guns are not cheap. Get in touch with the landowners, find out which contractor is managing the land where the problem bangers are and get contact details for them and speak to them face to face in a pleasant manner. As said above some gas guns have dodgy light meters so can work in the night. There are now gas guns that can be controlled with a phone app but there wont have been many of those sold yet.
Problems can be solved you might just have to put some effort in. Wish my gas guns worked as well as it sounds like these ones do. I have enough trouble getting the dam things to make a bang at all!

 

[TonyMartinwasright]

How are we supposed to find out who owns land without forking out for land registry records? most of it round here has been sold off to investers, then rented out and rotated between various growers. Michael Williams bird scarers do not have photo cells to detect daylight, timer only. Portek are Bluetooth phone controllable. Either way using them for months on end is antisocial and pretty pointless as far as the birds are concerned. Pretty good at making locals lives a misery though.

 

[Jon]

And then you would be done for theft! Gas guns are not cheap. Get in touch with the landowners, find out which contractor is managing the land where the problem bangers are and get contact details for them and speak to them face to face in a pleasant manner. As said above some gas guns have dodgy light meters so can work in the night. There are now gas guns that can be controlled with a phone app but there wont have been many of those sold yet.
Problems can be solved you might just have to put some effort in. Wish my gas guns worked as well as it sounds like these ones do. I have enough trouble getting the dam things to make a bang at all!

If you've already pursued these lines, and then subsequent seasons the same thing goes on, how would you handle the problem then ?
Asked with all due respect.

 

[Lazy Sod]

TonyMartinwasright said
Michael Williams bird scarers do not have photo cells to detect daylight, timer only.
[/QUOTE]

Not true. I bought a Michael Williams Bangalor Bomber in the eighties that had a photocell.

 

[Jon]

TonyMartinwasright said
Michael Williams bird scarers do not have photo cells to detect daylight, timer only.

Not true. I bought a Michael Williams Bangalor Bomber in the eighties that had a photocell.[/QUOTE]Yes, they now come with 24 hr digtal timer. Seven days a week.

I have several, that I use to use when I grew rape.
This time of year I would set mine to be silent at weekends, thinking being different bang pattern, and nod to general public.

I think they have a use if used wisely.

 

[TonyMartinwasright]

The modern ones don't have a photocell. Yes I agree they have a use but September to April all day every day is pointless and wasteful of resources. Birds have got used to it after the first 3 weeks. A lot of growers are just sticking them in the field "because they can" because a minority of them get their jollies of winding people up and causing an nuisance they know the council won't do anything about. (incidentally I was were creating similar levels of noise nuisance from a unit on an industrial estate it would very quickly be stopped).

 

[Farfrae]

As a former Environmental Health Officer I can confirm that the Local Authority has a statutory duty to investigate under section 79 of the Environmental Protection act 1990. Legislation follows - I have bolded the important bits. Just be aware that for business premises there is a defence of 'best practicable means' that would not really apply after dark - the courts would see that following the NFU code of Pratice as being an example of best practicable means.

Put your complaint in writing to the council quoting the legislation if you wish. If they don't respond positively follow their complaints procedure and also contact your local councillor to keep him informed.

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Statutory nuisances and inspections therefor.

(1)[F2Subject to subsections (1A) to (6A) below], the following matters constitute “statutory nuisances” for the purposes of this Part, that is to say—

(a)any premises in such a state as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(b)smoke emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(c)fumes or gases emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(d)any dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(e)any accumulation or deposit which is prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(f)any animal kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

[F3(fa)any insects emanating from relevant industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance;]

[F4(fb)artificial light emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;]

(g) noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

[F5(ga)noise that is prejudicial to health or a nuisance and is emitted from or caused by a vehicle, machinery or equipment in a street [F6or in Scotland, road];]

(h)any other matter declared by any enactment to be a statutory nuisance;

and it shall be the duty of every local authority to cause its area to be inspected from time to time to detect any statutory nuisances which ought to be dealt with under section 80 below [F7or sections 80 and 80A below] and, where a complaint of a statutory nuisance is made to it by a person living within its area, to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to investigate the complaint.

 

[TonyMartinwasright]

Here's how it goes with our local council EH.
They don't respond for 3 weeks to a month.
They then turn up on a day when the wind is blowing the other way and sit in a field entrance with the engine running and window open less than 2 inches with the radio on whilst playing with apple or Samsung smart phone for 45 minutes then leave without speaking to complainant. Three days later a letter arrives stating that (based on the 45 minutes they were there) they do not consider the noise which bears a very good resemblance to Northern Ireland in the early seventies, to be a "statutory nuisance". CASE CLOSED, don't bother contacting us about future issues unless it's 50 feet from your property and firing all night. Cash back hander carefully squirreled away in said council operatives holiday fund tin would be an educated guess.