Exceptionally noisy neighbours.....crows!

harrup

Sooki wrote: »

Absolutely no expert whatsoever but Have you tried decoy's like poppyoscar suggests ?

I think Hawks, owls & foxes are the natural predators. The decoys on the internet don't look too expensive. Carrion are clever, so don't leave them out too long or together, rotate them just long enough to spook them.

Trouble is they have already started nesting this year so the chances of them moving are minimal. I also think this year it's worse as the trees haven't come into leaf yet so there is nothing to muffle the sound.

Another thought, Could you get some wireless headphones and listen to you tv etc.. Through this kind of device and use ear defenders / plugs whilst their nesting?

They don't like shiny wavy things, could a helium balloon with lots of tassels accidentally get stuck in the tree?

Have you got a chimney ? getting a shiny rotating chimney cowl fitted might be enough to annoy and deter them from nesting.

Thanks, Sooki...all great suggestions. Including hiring an owl!

Although...since you mentioned owls....before the crows moved it, we regularly USED to hear an owl nearby. Did the crows band together and get rid of it? Dunno. But I wouldn't want to be a lone owl amongst those masses of black birds.

The other night I looked up and the sky was black with crows ( or rooks). It was like stepping into Hitchcock's " The Birds". Eerie.

*Robin*

harrup wrote: »

Only snag....how to access the HUGE ( easily 30 meter high) oak tree to douse birds. Nil desperandum, will ponder until I come up with something....

As the tree is right next to your house, how about "shooting" out of the closest bedroom window? ..Unless you've got a handy flat roof of course.

There's a fair bit of power in those pro washers - should produce a decent stream of water at 30 metres, without [STRIKE]atomising[/STRIKE] actually hurting the, umm, targets.

Would be a good idea to clear your mission with the neighbour of course, as it's his tree..


Though upon reflection; a more permanent solution might be to take up falconry yourself? A couple of raptors tethered on perches in your garden should do the trick nicely.
Would be an interesting hobby too.

AlexMac

Maninthe street beat me to it- Predators. I was intrigued to visit a London mainline terminus a few years ago where a guy was flying some kind of large hawk or predator. Hired by the railway to scare pigeons (which are pretty big- albeit not quite so scary as crows?) he said he only had to visit periodically to scare them off....?

Davesnave

I also live within sight of Dartmoor and in my village there's a large rookery.

I'm not going to offer any practical advice, but I would reassure you that the presence of rooks doesn't seem to devalue property.

Put it another way, I can't afford any of the large detached houses scattered around the churchyard where the rooks live. Frankly, that doesn't bother me, as I wouldn't live there at any price, but they do seem to sell OK.

martinthebandit

harrup wrote: »

Just wanted to say thanks for your input!

For the life of me I cannot envisage on how, or from what, I would concoct rook poles which are sufficiently long to shake the nests off a 30 meter high tree, but I will put my thinking cap on.

Mind you, somehow I can't see how my neighbour - whose tree it is - would sanction this action either ( he is blissfully hard of hearing so the crows/rooks don't bother him, as he can hear them only faintly) but I will try my best to persuade him.

Well our rook poles do gather a lot of dust, we tend to use a 12 bore with heavy shot for the nests.

One other option which came up in a discussion at work you may like to consider,

Get yourself a good catapult and use 3 or 4 dried peas as a load, non lethal and bio degradable (and silent)

One word of caution, if the rooks are feeding hatchlings and you drive them off, using any method, thus leaving the hatchlings to starve you leave yourself wide open to civil, or criminal charges of causing unnecessary suffering.

In other words either do it now before any eggs hatch or leave it till the autumn.