SCARECROWS have become a novel but effective way of keeping the annual influx of destructive corellas away from cricket pitches in Mount Gambier.
Along with cut up lengths of black plastic pipe to mimic snakes, the scarecrows have appeared at Blue Lake Sports Park which has been one of the sports fields in Mount Gambier targeted by thousands of corellas.
While the main baseball diamond at the sports park was destroyed to the extent games could not be played there, and the nearby South Gambier Football Club is also trying to keep damage to a minimum at its oval in readiness for the coming women’s league games, South Gambier Cricket Club will be playing on their pitch against Glencoe in the B Grade this weekend – thanks to the unusual ‘infrastructure’.
South Gambier Cricket Club president and Barber Shield captain, Camron Jorgenson praised Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association curator Garry Ashby for the idea that has kept the club’s pitch intact.
“The scarecrows are really just a piece of wood with clothes on, but they are working,” Jorgenson said.
Mount Gambier City Council’s General Manager City Infrastructure Barbara Cernovskis said Council had provided sand last week to help affected clubs repair their fields and sprayed for African Black Beetle grubs in an attempt to remove a food source for the corellas but the birds returned to continue their destruction at the Sports Park.
Ms Cernovskis said Council would now aim at cutting the problem off before it begins next time.
She said the Council had sought advice from National Parks and Wildlife rangers on the issue and would aim to spray the beetles before the birds arrive.
“The horse has already bolted this year so we’re going to try and interrupt the cycle next year,” she said adding that once the birds had discovered the beetles, they would keep pulling up the grass looking for the grubs but by removing the beetles before the birds arrived the hope was that they would move on looking for food elsewhere.
“It’s about removing the food source before they get here.”
She said Council would also change its mowing regime so that the grass was allowed to develop longer roots to make it more difficult for the birds to pull out.
“It’s an ongoing problem in many areas and we’re aware that Murray Bridge is looking at a new possible solution so we are keeping an eye on alternate ways to deal with this moving forward.”
