Hanging around in fields




      The trouble with scarecrows is they're not really that scary, well not to humans anyway, the crows and pigeons see them the first time and are a bit wary but then they treat them with a certain amount of contempt. When you see the 'sentry' pigeon perched on one you know that its effectiveness has waned somewhat.
      Above is a clothes hanger special in a cabbage field, there are around eight or nine more scarecrows like this in the field where the farmer grows organic heritage cabbage, kale and other vegetables for the London restaurant and hotel market, premium crops are not for the birds. That photograph was taken last year



      At the moment in the twenty-five acre field at the back of the house where the peas are planted the farmer has seven scarecrows that he moves around so that the birds don't get too complacent. Five are home made jobs and two are the mannequins that he found in a skip, or the Russian models as the Boss and I call them, all very glamorous but they do work. It must be the bald head glinting in the light.



      The Boss and I think that we should organise a competition for a truly scary scarecrow so we'd have to use this print of Bible John as the basis of our design, he scares me never mind the wood pigeons and crows, the LED eyes would work too. Put a bird scarer next to him and the explosions would sound like the arrival of something truly sinister from the other side.



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