Poison??

[wildherbalian85]

I recall a few months back whilst on a large area of farm land that the farmers/ gamekeepers had scattered lots of bits of corn that where covered in this red stuff... why???

[Picidae]

Not sure what they were using but if it were a poison deterrent for Rooks/Magpies/Pigeons they would have been in breach of the WLA.

The intentional killing, injuring or taking of any wild bird remains a non-
compliance and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 the taking and
killing of wild birds using poison remains an offence, with penalties of up to £5,000 and/or up to 6 months imprisonment.

Whilst control under Defra Licence is OK for farmers to use with Rooks etc. Poison food bait in this manner is indiscriminate and would result in other wild bird injury/death as well as possibly causing 'unnessary suffering' to the target species, so can't imagine that would be covered by a normal pest control Licence.

Without knowing what the red stuff was, it's hard to say! Perhaps someone knows of a livestock food additive that's red and used for chickens! (If I saw anything I thought suspicious in that regard, I might pocket some evidence (wearing gloves of course) and send it to Defra for testing!!

Avitrol has been used extensively in the past as a pest control
http://www.picasuk.com/lethal_bird_control.html

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by Picidae

Not sure what they were using but if it were a poison deterrent for Rooks/Magpies/Pigeons they would have been in breach of the WLA.

The intentional killing, injuring or taking of any wild bird remains a non-
compliance and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 the taking and
killing of wild birds using poison remains an offence, with penalties of up to £5,000 and/or up to 6 months imprisonment.

Whilst control under Defra Licence is OK for farmers to use with Rooks etc. Poison food bait in this manner is indiscriminate and would result in other wild bird injury/death, so can't imagine that would be covered by Licence.

Without knowing what the red stuff was, it's hard to say! Perhaps someone knows of a livestock food additive that's red and used for chickens! (If I saw anything I thought suspicious in that regard, I might pocket some evidence (wearing gloves of course) and send it to Defra for testing!!

Basically there are quite few large strips near most of the crops.... this gets ploughed and then left but the ploughing takes place after the crops have already started growing, the ground is also used for game birds.

There are/ where plenty of crows in the area and jackdaws.... i returned a few weeks later and it was pretty quiet there.... i ask only because of the BoP in the area including a Kite................ but thankfully this red corn was laid down in april time and the BoP's hadn't turned up until later in the year,,,, that said Kestrels where around at the time.

These strips are where i find a lot of henbane and one is also being used for honey bee's

[eeyore]

if there are gamebirds in the area common sense dictates that it isnt poison - no oone is going to try to poison BoP with grain anyway as they are carnivorous - chances are its some sort of supplementary feed for the game birds , the red stuff possibly being a rodent deterent.

the other possibility is that its broadcast seed intended to grow into a cover crop and the red stuff is fertiliser/fungicide.

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

I recall a few months back whilst on a large area of farm land that the farmers/ gamekeepers had scattered lots of bits of corn that where covered in this red stuff... why???

Hi Ian, can you be a little more specific about what corn you are talking about, and a bit more specific about what " covered in red stuff " means. Is it a regular spreadin of red dust, great gouts of red material covering the whole dump of corn. Photo would help.

Wheat and Barley were often dressed (what a soft sounding term) with Mercury based seed treatments, and much more acceptable seed treatments are often coloured the same to give reassurance to the user that this is just as good. Your question as posed is too general to answer with any accuracy.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Hi Ian, can you be a little more specific about what corn you are talking about, and a bit more specific about what " covered in red stuff " means. Is it a regular spreadin of red dust, great gouts of red material covering the whole dump of corn. Photo would help.

Wheat and Barley were often dressed (what a soft sounding term) with Mercury based seed treatments, and much more acceptable seed treatments are often coloured the same to give reassurance to the user that this is just as good. Your question as posed is too general to answer with any accuracy.

err... corn you now like bits of sweet corn.

No photo as this was a few month back...

i don't know as i did not handle the corn... but i'm guessing what ever it was it was water resistant because recent rain had not washed it off >> unless it was freshly laid corn.

Whetever it was the corn was not there for crop purposes... if it was then surley there would have been a lot more of it...

[wildherbalian85]

with regard to it being used as a cover crop.....



very little corn is visable.... fair bit of henbane, some dock and other thick vegetation including (not visible) vetch.

[ron1863]

I think eeyore's explanation is spot on.

[snake]

I am sure that the strips of land at the side of growing crops are cover strips to hold the gamebirds in the area. These cover strips are planted with various crops, one being maize which is planted in April or May depending where you are in the country.
The seeds you saw were probably spillage from the seed drill or depending on how deep it has been drilled it can sometimes be seen laying on the surface of the ground.
This seed is dressed with a substance to protect it from soil borne pests such as Wireworm,Leather jackets, Cutworm ect.
Depending on the type of dressing used, some has a red colour, this dressing is not harmfull to birds and the seeds that are in view are usually very quickly picked up by Wood pigeons, Crows, Jackdaws.
The chances are your Crows and Jackdaws were there clearing up the spilt corn on your first visit, they were gone on your next visit because all the food had been cleared up and they were searching elsewhere.
I really don't think you have anything to worry about.

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by snake

Wireworm,Leather jackets, Cutworm

They tend to be root feeders rather than seed feeders?