Topic: Swan Invasion! (Read 26905 times)

seacommander · « **Reply #75 on:** November 09, 2007, 11:50:43 pm »

I seem to remember the duty bird scarer on a local airfield used to play the alarm calls of birds to scare them off.

Does anyone know where these sound files could be found ?

I am thinking of using the guts of an old loudhailer fitted in my tug and sneak up behind them and let them have it.

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #76 on:** November 10, 2007, 12:04:02 am »

Yes, but what would frighten a Swan?

djrobbo · « **Reply #77 on:** November 10, 2007, 11:54:33 am »

A BOSNIAN WITH A SAUCEPAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

DickyD · « **Reply #78 on:** November 10, 2007, 12:21:59 pm »

Quote from: djrobbo on November 10, 2007, 11:54:33 am

A BOSNIAN WITH A SAUCEPAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

{-)Very good, that cheered me up.

Umi_Ryuzuki · « **Reply #79 on:** November 10, 2007, 06:24:43 pm »

It might take some time but look for a recording of a "danger" call for geese or swans.

I have heard that one of the local parks plays a "danger fly away" goose call to keep the geese out of the pond.
Might be worth investigating... play it back on a large portable stereo...

However they may be too comfortable to take such a warning seriously...

Ghost in the shell · « **Reply #80 on:** November 11, 2007, 01:11:59 pm »

they use similar tactics at airports as well, and it seems to work as well.

red181 · « **Reply #81 on:** November 11, 2007, 11:17:11 pm »

I took a drive down to the New Brighton lake this afternoon, but didnt bother stopping, there where just too many Swans!
What are the New Brighton club going to do? The local press is still running replies to the original letter, but I would be very careful about playing any loud warning noise to scare them off, that could be inviting trouble. I wonder how long they will actually stay till the weather gets too cold? It might not last much longer?

Umi_Ryuzuki · « **Reply #82 on:** November 12, 2007, 06:47:41 am »

There is an alarm call posted here for geese....

http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll?keywords=alarm+call+geese

of course it could be a mating call....

Try looking up swan there also..

Found an interesting website for inquires...
http://www.bird-x.com/products/gbuster.html

And I like the alligator head version shown here,.... shouldn't be to hard for a modeler to mock up...
http://www.gotgeese.com/

Arrow5 · « **Reply #83 on:** November 12, 2007, 10:41:22 am »

Reckon you were looking for diesel engine sounds Umi ::) but the southern UK(England) problem birds are the Mute Swans, don't know if they have any kind of alarm call. Here in the north of the UK (Scotland) we get hundreds of thousands of migrating geese from across the Atlantic and from Siberia. The island of Islay is now almost all protected by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) but prior to them acquiring land there I was part of a trial to scare geese off farmland using R/C aircraft. Three geese eat the same amount of grass as one sheep, they also alter the Ph of the soil. Model boats boats were used to scare Eider Duck from the commercial mussel beds offshore. The aircraft were fast noisy glo-powered un-silenced deltas and slower flying vaguely hawk shaped models. Didn't do much with either except move the geese to the next farm ! The Eider Duck experiment was mistimed as the birds were in moult and couldn't fly to escape the R/C Common Grey Seal, a bit like the Aligator head on one of your links. They just parted and allowed the dummy seal to pass through. The boffins wanted some reaction so we took the bodyshell and silencer off the 40 glo powered Cigarette hull and scared the living guano of of a lot of nice birds. They couldn't fly but to see them running on the water at speed was a spectacle I`ll never forget. All under the instruction of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and paid by them too. Of course in today`s PC climate it would be forbidden by the same officials. Interesting to note that the RSPB has a Royal warrant but the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SPCC) doesnt. Odd little country.

MCR · « **Reply #84 on:** November 12, 2007, 06:04:05 pm »

H5N1 the end to Swan problems?

Circlip · « **Reply #85 on:** November 12, 2007, 06:08:22 pm »

Irony eh Reply No 10

Arrow5 · « **Reply #86 on:** November 13, 2007, 12:09:27 pm »

Re the previous post on gauno making seal for wild goose chases..I mean swan deterrent. Here she is from under 20 years of dust. Might put it top of a Springer hull and head for Loch Ness to see if local tourist board want to boost figures ::)

Arrow5 · « **Reply #87 on:** November 17, 2007, 02:08:18 pm »

Took one of the Springers and put Seal on top....whaddaya `tink?

MikeK · « **Reply #88 on:** November 17, 2007, 02:13:33 pm »

Must be good - I cannot see a swan anywhere ::) ::)

Mike

Arrow5 · « **Reply #89 on:** November 18, 2007, 11:19:18 am »

Aha, but then I started with a small advantage....there were no swans on the loch before

MikeK · « **Reply #90 on:** November 18, 2007, 01:35:33 pm »

Ah shucks - you've spoilt the magic !!

Umi_Ryuzuki · « **Reply #91 on:** November 18, 2007, 06:37:32 pm »

Perhaps the seal model would be more believable if you sailed it in the pond upwind of the swans. Once upwind,
Someone starts splashing water madly around the seal head, Someone else sprays a bit of duck blood into the air from a mist bottle, and then proceeds to destroy a down pillow and toss feathers everywhere All while playing loud bird in distress calls... ???

malcolmfrary · « **Reply #92 on:** November 18, 2007, 09:46:31 pm »

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/39Feeding-the-ducks-fuelling-rat.3497030.jp
A link to a local paper. It seems that the rabid bird feeders in Preston have created a rat infestation.

Tom Eccles · « **Reply #93 on:** November 19, 2007, 10:13:31 pm »

This is an interesting thread and it is obvious to anyone that the viewpoints expressed are deeply held.
I guess we at Southport are lucky, we sail on a small pond less than half a mile from the marine lake and most of our bird life and bird feeders stay there (although during the period of the build of this pond after the council kindly sold our existing one without telling us we actually used the marine lake for a while).
The marine lake is full of swans,geese, ducks, coots and even the odd water skier as well as flotillas of yachts from the sailing clubs and to top it all off there is a jet boat and a "paddle steamer". Guess what? we all got along.
Building and sailing model boats is my hobby, it is NOT my life. I know from personal experience that swans can be a pain but hey, they probably think our models are interfering with them doing what IS their life - surviving.
I am not suggesting that we all adopt a swan but we really should try to chill a little and let them live as well. When all is said and done and when we are all pushing up daisy's the swans will STILL be paddling around annoying the next generation.
I do not ask that anyone agree with my sentiments, just allow me to express them. The great thing about this forum is that we can at least make our polite opinions known.

Regards to all
Clegg

'OWM REWL FER LANKYSHUR

MikeK · « **Reply #94 on:** November 20, 2007, 09:18:33 am »

As can be seen, this appears to be a country - wide problem that was not there in years gone by. It has come about by a man made ancient law that has given these birds immunity, coupled with the modern affluence of the citizens of this country that make the throwing of a full loaf of bread away of no consequence - and can only get worse (natural diseases and hungry Polish immigrants notwithstanding

)

MikeK

Circlip · « **Reply #95 on:** November 20, 2007, 01:03:00 pm »

And don't forget mans quest to turn every piece of spare land into a legacy of new dwellings at the expense of reason.
Within 50 metres of my house there used to be an ex industrial dam and at lunch time and tea time a couple of guys who
worked locally used to 'float their boats' on it. One day with a single honk a Canada goose hit the water like a bomb to be
followed in rapid succession by the rest of the migrating flock. Despite a couple of dozen 'cannon balls' hitting the water
neither of the boats were damaged or sunk, and every year at migration time the same thing would happen as the dam
was a rest stop for them. they only used to stay for about half an hour and would rise en mass and carry on their journey.
About fifteen years ago the dam was filled in and a storage building put on the land, the first year after, the lead goose
plummeted onto the building thinking it was still water. This has only happened once as they now overfly to another dam
about 2000metres away, but although their flightpath to this has a more direct route they are still imprinted with our detour.
Soooo I would ask if they weren't a problem in the past, what piece of water has been filled in to generate their now
nuisance value, it doesn't solve the problem and short of drastic action, which cannot be condoned, until the local council
extracts its digit and does something to stop people discarding vast quantities of food into the pond your on a hiding to
nothing cos as I wrote on an earlier reply, if one of the birds is injured by a model boat there will be merry h3ll to pay.
It could make a difference if ALL the boat users EN MASS lobbied the local council, but I wonder how many councillors
read this forum? ?

The long Build · « **Reply #96 on:** November 20, 2007, 01:19:57 pm »

I like swans but in the right place , and the New Brighton BOATING lake (Hardly) is not the right place. It is not Suitable for Swans END OFF
How long would it take for action to be taken if some child is attacked by one..It will happen.
And the result will probably be that they demolish the pond for good.

There also used to be lido in new Brighton , I could not see the council allowing the swans to stay there if they had taken a shine to it.

TLB

Arrow5 · « **Reply #97 on:** November 20, 2007, 03:15:55 pm »

...and on a lighter note. After extensive tests i can confirm that the Seal Deterrent didnt work, at least with native Mallard......no wildlife were disturbed by these tests.

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #98 on:** November 20, 2007, 03:18:21 pm »

You mean that they just laughed at it?

Bartapuss · « **Reply #99 on:** November 20, 2007, 03:40:04 pm »

Funny you should say that Long build, I can remenber being attacked but two of the buggers when I was a little kid cos they got the right hump that I'd run out of bread crust, repeat BREAD CRUST I was feeding them, they're bite bloody hurt and when they start flapping them wings at you it was very scary seeing as seemed huge at the time. :'( :'(

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Author Topic: Swan Invasion! (Read 26905 times)

seacommander

djrobbo

Umi_Ryuzuki

Umi_Ryuzuki

MCR

Umi_Ryuzuki

Tom Eccles

The long Build