Pipe with gas bottle and battery in field

That’s what I put into google to find out what on earth this was. I found it on a public footpath yesterday and had to take my mom to see it on her birthday (it’s about as exciting a birthday can get in lockdown, although doing anything with Ma is fun). It was significant because since Christmas we have been hearing shot like noises on our walks and couldn’t understand the random timing of shoots, even on a Sunday. Mystery solved by this ‘modern scarecrow’, as my nephew called it on a group birthday zoom. Apparently its a bird and wildlife scaring device that is set to go off at random times in the day, as we witnessed approaching it.

As the saying goes, you learn something new everyday.