Pest management: Crows
Clevedon Golf Club, have been experiencing birds having a buffet on their well-kept greens for some time. They offer some tactics they have implemented to try and stop the problem.
Course Manager Richard Ponsford commented: “I have been here for nearly six years and we have had problems with birds pecking up the greens every year. The situation is only getting worse and, this year, one of the greens has been annihilated. We have two sides of the course; one side is more inland and the other more towards the coast. The birds have been on both sides and damaged a few of the greens.”
He explained what he has tried so far: “We have sprayed Acelepryn and NemaTrident and both worked to a certain degree. However, the birds are doing something called historical pecking. They are pecking more because they can’t find anything. When I open the turf up, I am not seeing many grubs and the pecking has worsened because of this.”
Stubbornness of the birds
“Crows only migrate from northern climates, so in much of the UK they remain and assemble into groups, but the food has gone because we have sprayed. The bird moves across the green hoping to find something and that’s when you get a problem.”
The crows are proving to be the most stubborn of all: “We have a gamekeeper who shoots up in the morning to scare them away and when you approach them they fly away. They are intelligent though; during the day when golf is being played, they know that the gun won’t be coming out and they don’t move.”
Golfer lack of understanding
Richard and his team have found it difficult to communicate with members about what has been happening on the greens. He explains: “Last year I told members about us spraying in an attempt to stop the problem. The Acelepryn and NemaTrident had done the job because the grubs were gone, but the birds weren’t deterred however, most of the feedback was suggesting that it hadn’t worked. Therefore, the members couldn’t understand it.”
While the course is closed, Richard takes more extreme measures when attempting to keep the birds off: “The old phrase about hanging a dead crow in a tree does work. That did stop the crows from coming onto the greens. However, when we have golfers on the course, we can’t do that. No one wants to see a dead bird when they are putting.”
Thinking outside of the box
Richard has tried several methods to try and solve his pecking problem. Some of these include using scarecrows, kites, high-pitch noise frequency and spinners. He is positive about these so far: “We have only had a little bit of damage on one of our greens since putting these up. That was also because one of the kites had fallen. It seems that as soon as the kite had gone, the crows were back.”
He highlighted some of the issues which have arisen due to the new deterrents: “Everything that we have used has done its job but, unfortunately, the scarecrows look unsightly to the golfers. They also say that they are in the way; it looks like a golfer is standing on the green so they question if they can hit their ball.”
Some useful guidance
Richard concluded with his best advice for those suffering from a similar situation: “If I could go back six weeks, I would have started with the kites, as they seem to be working the best for us. In hindsight, I would have preferred to have spent the money on more kites than the spraying because the kites have stopped the main issue.”