Complaints 2012

• Jan - 30/04/2012
  There is a petition regarding the banning of gas guns on the Gov web site Please can you sign it ASAP. The link is http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/25256
• Margaret Butt - 20/04/2012
  We are farmers and do not use gas guns because of the nuisance they cause to nearby residents. Surrounding farmers, however, do use them and we are being subjected to a continuous bombardment of volleys. From October right through until March we had a scarer blasting off every day from 7am until well after dark (admittedly that farmer was amenable and, when asked, did try to muffle the sound with straw bales). That one has now stopped but now we have had two more start up in different fields (one of them was, for a time, going off all day and all night!) and presumably they will go on throughout the summer. In effect we have scarers making our life a misery all year round. Please, please support a ban on them - they are limited in their effectiveness anyway. We have watched the pigeons fly up briefly and then return immediately to the crop. On our farm we factor in that a small amount of crop will be lost to birds and rabbits, and also try to avoid planting vulnerable crops in positions where they are likely to suffer damage.
• Glenn Ibbitson - 15/04/2012
  round the clock scarer going for last 2 weeks just S. of Newcastle Emlyn. When Wales needs tourism as much as farming, we have had visitors leave early to go back to London for a decent nights sleep... Guess what my response will be when I next have a farmers benevolent fundraising tin rattled under my nose..

• Janet Hazard - 15/04/2012
  I have just been forced to return home, arriving in a bruised, battered and shocked condition, due wholly to bird scarers. They are everywhere so I opted for a walk with my dogs where I felt they might not be present as one of my dogs is absolutely petrified of them. Alas, they were so well hidden, they exploded and yes, my terrified dog bolted all the way back to the car, parked on a main road. I was so frightened of her being knocked down and causing a serious accident, I ran after her but being a pensioner, my speed was inadequate. Thank you to all the considerate car drivers who slowed down seeing a shivering wreck of a dog at the roadside. In my haste to get to her, I had a nasty fall resulting in me being the one in the middle of the road. Fortunately, I live to tell the tale! My other dog, in the meantime, being old, was miles behind me utterly confused as to what was going on. I have now run out of walks so, as a direct cause and effect of these scarers, we are forced against our will to be confined to the house until such time that they are switched off. Disgraceful. There must be something that can be done to restrict the use of these machines. They plague our lives in the country, not to mention totally distrupt our way of life. I fully appreciate the need for bird deterrents, having been closely associated with the farming communities for many years but these gas guns are now totally out of control. Help!
• Catherine - 14/04/2012
  I live on one side of a valley on the edge of the Lake District. For 12 hours a day a local farmer is firing a gas gun in burst of 3 explosions every 45 minutes or so. The bangs echo across the valley - it's like living on a firing range! Local dogs and horses are nervous wrecks, and residents are utterly sick and tired of being woken before 7am every day (including over Easter weekend). I dread to think what tourists (who contribute millions of pounds to our local economy) make of it! It is one farmer who is responsible - if all the others manage without these wretched gadgets, why can't he? I'm not a townie who's moved to the country and is trying to stop 'country pursuits' - I've lived in this area for most of my life - but this has got to stop!
• laura - 12/04/2012
  Im so glad I came onto this site, I love wildlife and all birds, but do understand the need to protect crops, however, my dog is going bonkers, shaking and fearful now that he doesnt want to go outside as the bird scarers in the Oare area are so loud it makes you jump, its really not acceptable, surely something can be done, i shall complain to my local council
• Shell - 08/04/2012
  All over bank holiday weekend! How thoughtful of the farmers. Well, they were banging away all over Christmas and new year too so didn't really expect anything less from them. The oilseed rape fields are now in flower, how much damage can the birds do the crop at this stage? If previous years are anything to go by, the gas guns were on from the day the seed went in the ground to a week before harvest. Got to love the peace and quiet of the countryside! BAN THEM!!!
• Garry Hunter - 23/03/2012
  our dog is in pieces from the constant bangs of the bird scarer down our road. We live well into the estate away from the field and it sounds like it is next door. The scarer WILL stop this weekend, because I will ensure that it stops for good. I am thinking of setting up a national campaign to stamp out these uneccesary nuisances.
• Ann - 21/03/2012
  Why do we have to suffer what can only be described as 'Chinese torture' for so many months and hours. Bird scarers really do annoy residents within earshot. So often the guidelines are simply ignored and one local farmer who placed his scarer near a bridleway stated 'It's to keep folk off my land!' Hardly a responsible attitude. A little more consideration as to their positioning and far less timed 'shots' would be far more agreeable.
• Gill - 20/03/2012
  Well said 'Cheesed Off'! Good old-fashioned scarecrows do as good a job, if not better, than audible bird scarers plus they are socially and environmentally acceptable. 'Rees' talks about the cost to farmers but shattering the peace and tranquility of the countryside is too high a price to expect everyone else to pay. These canons disturb nesting birds and will be contributing to the decline in shy and sensitive farmland birds. They should be banned during the nesting season at the very least. It is shameful that some farmers are so insensitive to the side effects of their actions that they have to wait to be told.
• sally plummer-jones - 13/03/2012
  I LIVE IN COCK CLARKS IN ESSEX AND MY LOCAL FARMER HAS A AUDIBLE SPEAKER ON DAY AND ALL NIGHT AND IT SOUNDS LIKE A KESTRAL SCREAMING IT IS DRIVING US MAD
• Rees - 13/03/2012
  It is interesting to note the animosity towards these bird scarer's. Having lived on a farm all my life, they are simply part of the scenery that surround me and I have to say, even with them sited next to the house they don't bother me. I can however see why they are hated so much, and it has made me consider their use a little more. It must be noted though, that these devices are effective, and are being used to protect the crops that feed the nation and provide competitively priced food for all. Banning them will simply add to the red tape already imposed on business's, and will make our own products yet again more expensive and less attractive to the consumer. As an example of their benefits, a crop of rape on 20 acres (small field)is potentially worth around £30,000 (not profit!) when sold after harvest. If pigeons attack 4 acres, reducing yield by 50% (possibly more), £3000 is lost (this reduces profit significantly). Now consider the effect over 100 acres (again, small for many farms).... Anyone gets upset when losing money, and bird scarer 'bangers' are the most effective tools in most situations. Hence why they were invented and their use commonplace.
• Cheesed off in Cheshire - 09/03/2012
  I used to live on a working farm - gave it up a few years ago. We grew crops but we never used gas guns simply because we don't like the noise from them - therefore why should anyone else in the vicinity? We used scarecrows and did rough shooting to minimise the pests. It's totally irresponsible and all that today's farmers are doing is giving themselves a bad name. I can understand the gas guns being used on prairie style 1000 acre plus farms but not on smaller units which have other residents nearby. There is no defence for the use of these annoying things - the ones near us are going off earlier as the days lengthen so that we are now being woken up by them - earplugs are no barrier either! Gas guns should be banned.
• David Davis - 01/03/2012
  We live in an idyllic part of the country or did! The local farmer has just placed a gas gun at the back of our house. It is 18.08 as I write this and it/they are still going off. It scares away nesting birds and makes life a misery. I notice he does not have one near his farm house. They should all be banned. It makes life an utter misery. If I wanted to live in war zone I would have move to Syria.
• Mrs L Gold - 24/02/2012
  Having read all the comments about the bird scarers on this web-site.I think we all have one thing in common, and that is they are a nuisance and thats putting it midly. They should be banned - end of! Would the President of the farmers union,please have the decent thing and get in touch with me.
• Shell - 19/02/2012
  Ok NFU, it's been nearly a years worth of comments on here, when are you going to do something about this? For the fourth year running we now are surrounded again by gas guns, I counted 60 bangs in under half an hour the other day, so between 7 and 5 that's an average of 1200 bangs per day, increasing as daylight hours get longer. The local farmers all blame each other and say the guns aren't theirs which is really convenient for them! I can't cope with another season of this but I'm not in a position to be able to sell up and move. Please do something NFU, you read these comments, you obviously want to hear what people think, so why aren't you doing anything about it? I strongly believe that the code of practice was relevant 10 years perhaps but please just look at the manufacturers websites to see how loud they are making these devices now, they are not regulated at all! They are now made to project the sound further, so who does it effect, residents, probably some miles away too. It is absurd that farmers are allowed to disrupt other people's lives so that they can get the most money for their crop, it actually costs ME money by having to have fans running in the morning to try and drown out the noise, and radios and tv on in the daytime, it doesn't work tho, they can still be heard over them, with doors and windows closed.
• Sandy - 17/02/2012
  My children were woken up at dawn this morning by the rope banger our friendly farmer had placed a few hundred yards from my son's bedroom. We are surrounded by fields, farmed by at least three different farmers, all who have their own gas guns in position for many months of the year. The farmer must've been up early this morning to light the damn thing, a slow burning rope with bangers attached (not that I inspected it that closely, m'lud). We live in a conservation area of SSSI and AONB, which also seems at odds with the guns et al, as the wading birds are protected, but are being continually scared off. The farmer (who farms the land surrounding my house of three sides - and owner of the rope banger) and I have history, beginning a few years ago when, several hours after finishing spraying the fields around my house, he suddenly returned over the field with the sprayer where I was walking with my children and family, along the footpath. He reversed the sprayer tightly into the corner where we were all standing, baffled, lowered the spray arms and turned on the chemicals a few feet from where my young children were standing...beyond belief. I ran up the field and stopped him. His explanation: 'he was in a hurry to get home for his tea'...we have since endured him driving up and down the fields at night, shooting rabbits close to the house, not warning of his intentions to spray, often drifting all over my washing, as he does not respect the boundary and does not leave any gaps between where our garden and his fields meets. He has deliberately ripped out our fencing and broken our trees. I cannot find the words to express the total disgust I have for this malicious, pathetic man.
• Mrs L Gold - 26/01/2012
  Annoyed in keyworth.NOTTS. why on earth do these things go of every morning at eight and carry on till 4 every day.Sometime i have counted 4 blasts every 10mins. It is not good enough and what makes it worse is I have a pet dog who is absolutely pettrifed on walking around keyworth, because of the constant noise. and let me make it clear i'm not the only one in this situation. Surely the crops have come through now and there is no need for this continuing noise.If it carries on much longer i'm affraid i will have to get the police involved. Please excuse the typing. Regards. Mrs L.Gold

Gas Cannon (Gun) Issues in Dunfermline Scotland

We at b-ooomgroup have experienced the unreasonable use of  propane gas gun bird scarers. For many years it became so bad that we formed  this action group to campaign against use of gas cannons (guns) outside the nfu codes of practice. The Code was designed to help alleviate residents being exposed to long periods of nerve shattering explosions seven days a week dawn until dusk, in the summer months it means 16 hours a day .

There is a legal obligation for your local council to investigate complaints to see if a statutory nuisance has occured under the environmental protection act 1990, we at b-ooom have been researching in depth the effectiveness of gas cannons as bird scarers for some time. If anyone needs more information on this subject log into this b-ooom Website and the b-ooom Facebook page, and find the procedures for complaints to councils and DEFRA, who approves the nfu codes of practice. Yours sincerely, b-ooomgroup admin.

Damage to Squark Boxes

Dear B-ooom reader,

We have been advised by the police that damage has been done to a local farmers 'squark boxes' in Banham. We are of course, not happy that noise can disturb people, however, we do feel that these devises are preferable to the intollerable sounds of the gas guns. We feel that at least the 'squark boxes' sounds are more in keeping  with the countryside. However, we cannot support any criminal damage being commited. We do not feel that this is a way forward. Please continue to inform your enviromental health officer at your local council, should any of these devises be causing you mental stress.

Thanks

Heidi Roberts

Gas gun noise recordings

Here's some interesting recordings from a fellow gas gun nuisance sufferer. They show an hours sound recording starting from 6:00AM for several days in a week. Any recording over the red line represents a bird scarer in close proximity- you can soon notice how many of them are going off!

Click the images to view at full size.

If anyone has a similar experiance let us know in the comments!

Thanks,

B-ooom

Complaint letter 26.03.11, to farmer R Hancy re: His Gas Gun Noise Nuisance, Banham, Norfolk.

26.03.11
B.OOOM GROUP

BECKHALL MANOR
NEW BUCKENHAM ROAD
BANHAM NR16 2DD

MR R HANCY
HEATH HOUSE FARM
WINFARTHING  ROAD
BANHAM
NRI6 2DH.

Mr Hancy again we request that you abate your gas guns in Banham and the surrounding area which have been firing now for over 5 months. The first ones being sited on Banham Moor in October 2010. Many visits have shown them to be totally ineffective and also have an unpleasent impact.

Although you do not subscribe to the NFU of which codes are approved by Defra, they state the gas guns should not be sited in areas of dispute, to help alleviate any unreasonable use over long durations.

Regards the B-ooom group admin.

CC eht, breckland, defra, nfu, natural england, norfolk police, cpre, noise abatement society.

Complaint letter 02.04.11, to farmer Eric Cole re: His Gas Gun Noise Nuisance, Banham, Norfolk.

Crossways
Link road
Banham
NR16 2DQ

Mr e cole & sons
Lodge farm
Winfarthing
IP22 2PQ

Mr cole your gas guns have been firing for 189 days we have asked you in previous letters to abate them as the duration of use is totally unreasonable and is impacting near by dwellings how much longer do you intend keeping this up?

Sincerelv A & K Yates

CC Defra, NFU, Beckland EHT, Police, CPRE, Natural England, and Noise Abatement Society.

Gas Gun Noise in Cranfield, Bedfordshire.

Complaint letter 17.2.11, to farmer Eric Cole re: His Gas Gun Noise Nuisance, Banham, Norfolk.

Crossways
Link road
Banham
Norfolk
NR16 2DQ

Mr E Cole & Sons
Lodge farm
Winfarthing
Norfolk
lP22 2PQ

Mr Cole I again ask you abate the gas guns that constantly affects me day after day seven days a week for 151 days so far, this action would not be detrimental to the crop but would help alleviate our problem, the gas guns have been having a negative affect for some considerable time.

Sincerely

A&K Yates

CC NFU, DEFRA, Natural England, CPRE, Norfolk Constabulary, Noise Abatement Society

Complaint Letter to farmer Eric Cole 10.2.11

Crossways
Link road
Banham
Norfolk
NR16 2DQ

Mr E Cole & Sons
Lodge farm
Winfarthing
Norfolk
lP22 2PQ

Mr Cole

Your gas gun has fired constantly for 144 Days WITHOUT A BREAK I have informed you of the details of my complaint and how the unreasonable affects me over this long period of time, it is not justifiable to use them any longer- their effectiveness ended sometime ago, I again ask you to aknowledge this fact and abate the noise.

Alan Yates

CC Brec cncl, DEFRA, NFU, CPRE, Natural England, Norfolk Constabulary, Noise Abatement Society

Gas Gun Menace in St Ives Rd, Cambridgeshire

Hello B-ooom,

I have had more trouble with Rockets and bangers than gas guns. Last year the farmer had a gas gun 150 metres from me. I have geese and chickens. They did not bother about that even though it was loud. The farmer also let of a rocket off every morning. This was alot louder. When he drove over his land the Pigeons had already flown so there was no need to let it off. This was aiming to scare the Pigeons from the whole village. It was disgusting. This lead to the death of some chickens and my Goose.

I live in an orchard and try to protect the wildlife. I have planted a woodland for the wildlife. I placed a barn owl box near the bottom which is near his land. A gas gun was close to the box. I had barn owls in it but they went. He thinks he is better than everybody else and he does this maliciously rather than to scare pigeons.

Last april he put one in his yard across the road to stop Rooks getting in his bags of corn. That was disgusting. That made birds in my orchard go off their eggs. I had a duck sitting on eggs at the time and she would not leave her eggs to feed. That gas gun would have scared my ducklings when they hatched so i wrote him a letter telling him I would report him if he did not stop them. He stopped them but this year he started again. He planted the rape behind us again. Christmas eve a rocket went off. No one had checked the crop before this. Some had been attacked. He wanted to spoil everyones christmas.

In my letter i told him his rockets killed some of my livestock and he did it again which means he did not care, so i reported him this time. The enviromental agency sent him a letter to check his gas guns and sent him NFUs code of pratice. He moved his gas guns further back. 200 metres is too close. These things make alot of noise without baffles. He doesn't use them. I had 5 days peace. When the officer came there was no noise. The gas guns were okay but he started putting rope bangers where he moved the guns from. He puts them anywhere. I had a monitor but he would change things around so I could not get it good enough for the officer. I only had the monitor for 5 days so he weren't going to help whatever i said. I counted over 50 in a hour.

I could not get that when I had the monitor. He splits the rope bangers up so i get a noisy 2 hours from 10am to 12 usually. The pigeons are not there then. They come in the morning and afternoon. He can't justify them nor rockets and it is harder to prove the use of these when he is trying to annoy me not scare pigeons. The letter he received only mentioned his gas guns so he can say he is not wrong. I wish I had not bothered complaining now as he is going to be worse. How do i deal with that. When he lets up a rocket I can't just turn on a monitor as it is already over. No one can catch someone using these.

If gas guns are banned malicious farmers could use these if they are not banned aswell and they can be louder without rules on them. I thought of going to the Police next but i don't know whether that is another waste of time. I have got an explosive which he dropped and i found it on my land. I could use this to go to the Police but the last complaint did not work. I need to get this right or i want these banned.

Mrs Jacklin