Last straw for Worzel and co

IT may be more Dalek than Worzel – but this bright idea could be the answer to an age-old farming problem.

Meet Scarecrow Compact, a state-of-the-art "solar scarecrow" created by two East Sussex companies.

The gizmo emits bird distress calls to create an environment appearing "hostile" to birds.

Rivalling the hay-stuffed traditional scarecrow, the contraption is a combination of two designs – bird dispersal technology by Uckfield-based firm the Scarecrow Group, and solar panels made by Solar UK in Eridge.

"The use of firearms in farming and rural communities has been a popular method to remove unwanted birds, but with guns going off at night and often close to houses, an increasing number of anti-social related complaints from the public have necessitated alternative methods of safer and more humane bird removal," explained the Scarecrow Group's chief executive, Tony Walker.

He told the Courier Compact was humane, inoffensive and did not endanger birds' lives.

It activates when any bird movement is detected using infrared sensors. The distress calls of gulls, starlings and crows are among those imitated.

But at a pricey £2,000 for the solar powered version of the equipment, Ticehurst farmer Tom Maynard said it would have to be extremely effective to prove value for money.

"I have found that the populations of rooks and jackdaws have recently risen and I'm getting very significant damage on strawberries and cherries

"We have been here 50 years and this is the first year I have used bird scarer bangers. We have them on a timer so they don't go off at anti-social hours."

Mr Maynard, who runs Maynard's "pick your own" farm with his father at Three Legged Cross, said this year was an exceptionally bad one.

Where most years he loses up to £2,000 of fruit due to bird damage, this year he lost around £5,000.

Mr Walker said Scarecrow had been researching bird dispersal in different environments since he set up the company in 1985.

"The agricultural market only had low-quality dispersal systems available. This was costing farmers more in terms of time and money than was necessary."

Scarecrow equipment is widely used all over the world in urban and rural environments, but particularly airports where birdstrike can damage aircraft and endanger passengers.

The technology can be set up to play when any bird movement is detected using Infrared sensor technology.