One of the crops that we grow on the farm here is oil-seed rape. It's not without its problems. Wood pigeons are fond of it as a winter food and a few visits from a big flock will leave large areas of the field with stalks and hardly any leaves. This isn't a catastrophe in the early months but when February and March come along and growth starts in earnest it's not good news to see the pigeons at work. However, we don't employ the gas-gun "bangers" that so many farmers use without a thought for their neighbours. We try with scare-crows etc. We have talked about using pigeon-detecting radar and claymore mines but that's just talk! Even regular patrols with a helicopter would do the job - at a cost!
This year we have been hit by a new problem - aphids. Well, they look like aphids that have been dusted with some light mauve powder. This picture shows how many aphids can pack tight on a rape stem and feed off the fluids in the stem, causing the growth above to be severely stunted.
When put in a petri dish the aphids eventually went walkabout. Here's a family group that has almost completely lost the mauve powder covering:
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