How to scare a bird

 

It was a cold bright morning foretelling Autumn.  Caroline & I went for a walk by some local lakes, formerly gravel extraction pits, now converted into fishing lakes.

However, our agenda concerned not fish but birds.  Caroline had spotted skeins of geese flying over and thought they might be stopping off at the lakes, along with other Autumn migrants. 

Passing the rumbling gravel conveyor belt, we turned towards the fishing lake, but there was a sign:

‘Bird scaring devices are in use here.  This is to stop the cormorants eating the fish.’  Then, as a preventive against the tutting of nature lovers, ‘It is our duty to prevent stress to the fish.’

‘Until they get dragged through the water by a hook through their lip…’ we muttered.

So now we were disappointed, expecting to be disturbed by the explosions of a crow scarer and see no birds at all.

Almost immediately, however, a cormorant surfaced serenely; further off, a family of great crested grebe was diving. Herons stooped patiently on the bank and at intervals swam mallards, coots, swans and black-headed gulls. 

We walked the whole length of the lake undisturbed by any explosion, with plenty of time to admire the birds.

At the head of the lake was a wooden cabin containing a loo. 

In I went, but just as I shut the door, there was an explosion.  Out I shot.

Finally the scarer had gone off.

So now we knew exactly which type of bird it deterred – old birds!