Rape fields...pigeon damage ?

[Cranfield]

The rape is really growing apace now (as has been commented elsewhere) and some in my area is flowering noticeably.

 

The pigeons are still hitting the shorter plants and landing in the tractor wheel rows on the longer stuff.

Eventually, when it has grown enough and the wind blows it over, they will land on it.

 

What has intrigued me, since rape started being grown in large quantities, is that it mostly recovers quickly from pest abuse.

I don't mean the bald margin, or headland, which has more to do with bad drilling than pests, I mean the vast majority of the field.

Despite having hordes of pigeons all over it, it will soon be so dense, you can walk on it and not touch the ground.

 

Discussing this with a Farmer in the early days, he maintained that pigeons taking out the leaf on the first growth, encouraged the rape to flourish.

This sounds like the same effect picking purple sprouting has, or trimming a hedge to encourage faster growth.

Of course, if this is true, we should keep it to ourselves.

 

Another thing I have noticed is that pigeons seem to hit the rape harder , days after the second spraying (which occurred in the last 2-3 weeks).

Or, they could just prefer the more mature plant.

Whatever the reason, they seem to be concentrating on rape more now, in the Spring, than through the Winter.

 

Any observations ?

[M ROBSON]

If it's not hit too hard then the rape will certainly grow back ok but it's the delay in growth that causes the problem. If the birds are hitting only one corner of the field come harvest time it won't be ready at the same time as the rest of the field. We had a farmer last year that had to cut one of his fields in two halfs because the birds had concentrated on the bottom half of that field. We also shoot on a nearby estate that had 6 fields of rape totally distroyed by pigeons and needed re-planting in the spring. The farmer wanted us to shoot but the gamekeeper wouldn't let us till after the season had finnished, by then it was too late. There was nothing left but mud and a few stalks.

 

Mark.

[jordan]

on sunday or monday i have to get up to one of the farms i have permission on as the farmer called me today and complained that the pigeons were hitting his one field of rape he says theres hundreds but you know what farmers are like

[Malc]

To the casual observer, OSR may appear to recover well from Woodpigeon damage, but in reality, cropping yeilds have been proven to suffer.

If anyone is interested, there is some information on my club website, with references to the source.

 

SWC

 

PS I'm not sure if I've added the link properly! :*)

[lurcherboy]

Heard the comments by Cranfield before regarding topping out by the pigeons to the plants benefit. I think thats right. They hit the rape every year on my permission but when out in the field I see little damage.

 

 

LB