gasguns, gadwall and eat your greens

A week or so ago in the Cambridge News, this chap had written in a letter which they published having a right go at the use of gasguns in fields to scare of pigeons and other birds that eat the crops close to/in the same filed as the guns. There was this comment about farmers being behind the times etc etc and on and on he went about new technology.

Saw a bit of the new technology today coming back from a bird survey, a field with a tethered hawk model flying high and jinking about, under neath it taking no notice a nice flock of wood pigeons scoffing away, undoubtedly thinking that pretend hawk will keep real ones away.

I mentioned a bird survey because I still look at some land on a farm near Ely, and yes they have gasguns in some fields to try and keep birds away and you cannot blame them really after all farmers need to make money as well as grow food. They have flooded some more fields this year to control soil pests, I imagine growing three or four crops a year of salad on a field leads to a buildup of pests. The flooded fields are a magnet for waterbirds with a lovely range of ducks on them at the moment, with Great Crested and Little Grebes diving away, the Little Grebes in particular calling almost non stop.

What were the crops the gas guns were protecting you want to know, Lettuce, in the shops soon fresh for you, habdpicked from lord knows o'clock this morning by gangs of fold who I bet are not paid that much and who are picked on by Nigel Barrage Balloon which takes me back to gasguns.

twas the coldest night before christmas

So the news the other day was the coldest month since records began. Trying to see a joke in there I have to say was it the coldest before wax cylinders then. Too off the wall well perhaps.

But it has been cold and not for a couple of days for weeks or seemed anyway. Hopefully it will have done some good somewhere. My only concern is what effect has it had on wildlife.

Certainly gardeners were still coming to terms with the damage the cold winter of 2009/2010 caused with trees shrubs and perrenials killed of or severely damaged. In some cases plants that were perhaps on the edge of being able to grow in this country, but even some plants normally quite hardy were hit hard. I suspect even more will have suffered this winter which of course is not over yet.

My biggest concern is for birds and animals though. Its not easy to see any effect unless you think about it, did you notice the number of birds in your garden increase and decrease or just decrease. Have the hedges near you been stripped of berries very quickly. I went to a few local nature reserves in late December and have been to more this last weekend. To me they all seemed quieter than usual. My own personal observation I know with no factual basis but you have to wonder.

I know that with the snow and ice about you could see the little dead bodies for once, only a few here and there some like the dead swans more obvious and those quickly plucked clean of any flesh by other hungry mouths.

I think the grisliest thing I saw was a Carrion Crow on the frozen river Great Ouse near an open spot where ducks gulls and grebes were trying to find food or stay safe. I saw the Crow pecking at something and looked with my binoculars, what was it? It turned out to be a Little Grebe on its back not quite dead but already with a bloody gaping hole in its chest and a foot still moving. I felt sick to be honest by what I saw and looked away, when I looked back the Crow and Little Grebe were not there. You might not approve of it but the Crow was trying to survive in the harsh weather.

It made me think and I have kept on feeding the birds in my garden I upped the feed as the cold weather began and have kept the higher amount going, they need it and I can help those that come to me.

I hope you are feeding the birds and encouraging others to do the same, they are going to need the food and whatever help we can give them this year for certain.