The Best Bird Scarers For Crop Protection

So, Spring Drilling season, time to get crops in the ground and established. To get your spring planting off to a flying start, we’ve put together our selection of safe and ethical bird scarers, to prevent damage and crop losses.

There are two types of bird scaring products authorised for use in the UK, that is visual deterrents and auditory deterrents.

Auditory deterrent

Rely on audio deterrents, imitating the sound of a gun, a constant hum, or sirens

Visual deterrent

Rely on things the birds can see, relying on their fear of humans or the mimicry of the movements and characteristics of other birds that they consider as predators

What methods to use

We would suggest varying methods as much as possible, so birds don’t grow accustomed to your methods. Noisy scarers should not be positioned close to residential areas, and Scarers should not be used in areas that could frighten horses or passers-by.

Scarecrows

A traditional (and certainly safe!) method would be to use a scarecrow, generally designed to resemble a human. These originated from medieval times, when scarecrows were young boys who had the exhausting chore of scaring away birds from recently planted crops. However, these are not effective with all species, as some birds use them as perches.

Predators

Some species of birds are intimidated by birds of prey such as buzzards, falcons, or hawks. An easier visual deterrent could come in the form of a hawk kite, such as the one we stock by Portek, which imitates the silhouette of the predators of many common birds. We also stock spare kites for this product

The constant movement of this ‘terror kite kit’ from Portek, even in the lightest breeze, mimics the movement of a predator, swooping and diving menacingly. It’s vibrant colours, reflective eyes and constant flashing movements combine to clear birds effectively and quietly. This is definitely an inexpensive and less noisy alternative to a bird scaring gun.

Alternatively, again relying on the use of reflective surfaces, bright colours and constant movement, we also stock an inexpensive rotating ‘hawk eye’ bird deterrent.

Lasers

New laser technology has proved to be useful in quietly and effectively dispersing birds from areas by projecting horizontal laser beams across a given crop. If used legally, these could be useful for crop protection in agriculture. Never use the lasers in the direction of aircraft, vehicles or people. When using a laser for bird deterrent, use a horizontal zig-zag movement.

Pyrotechnics, rockets and bangers.

Pyrotechnics are also a proven method of dispersing birds in agriculture. As these are auditory devices, we would refrain from using them in built up areas. The best method for use of these devices is to regularly alter location and the timing of these devices being triggered. We stock a wide range of Portek bird scaring pyrotechnics, which ensure birds and other pests are deterred 24 hours a day. We sell these products with the guarantee that our customers will use these products legally. These products are only available to UK Farm and Agriculture enterprises, to persons over the age of 18.

See our range of pyrotechnic bird scaring products here:

• • Bird Scaring Continuation Ropes
  • Bird Scaring Double Banger Ropes
  • Bird Scaring Rockets
  • Bird Scaring Day Ropes

Bird scaring guns

Once again, these are auditory devices and should therefore only be used in appropriate locations at appropriate times. To avoid animals getting accustomed to noise created by a bird scarer, the location and timing at which ‘bangs’ are shot should be varied. Our bird scarer from choice is this one from Portek, which we carry in stock, with a whole host of spare parts for the bird scarer. This MK4 bird scarer has carried the ‘industry standard in durability for 32 years’. This model has a variety of modern features to make it the best in the market, including programming via an App, and a unique pin number in the event of theft.

Click for more information on our Gas Bird Scarers.

For more Crop Protection Products and spare parts for the items mentioned in this blog post, go to our Crop Protection section.

We would also recommend you download the NFU Bird Scarers Best Practice Guide.

We wish you all the very best this spring and look forward to being of service to you.