Crows grab balls

Unwelcome birdies at West End Golf Club as crows swoop down and grab balls

Published Date: 05 November 2009
By Ian Rushworth

THE course can be hard enough, what with its bunkers and trees. But competitiors in a contest at West End Golf Club, Norton Tower, Halifax, found themselves up against another kind of handicap.

Swooping crows are thought to have carried off around 20 balls during the match – the first Halifax-Huddersfield Alliance contest at West End Golf Club for more than 10 years. Visiting players watched dumfounded as the crows struck at holes near the top of the 18-hole course – the fifth, sixth and seventh in particular.

But it came as no surprise to long-serving West End professional David Rishworth.

He said ball-stealing crows had been a menace in late autumn for three years now.

Mr Rishworth – who had two balls carried off during the match – said: "It is a nightmare for members. They can lose three or four balls in a round.

"They just fit in the crows' beaks. It sometimes helps if you play with a yellow or orange ball."

Alliance official James Washington said: "I have had several players say it happened to them, but it is a new one on me."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said that while the golfers weren't laughing, the birds were probably just having fun. Spokesman Ciaran Nelson said crows belonged to the corvid family and were naturally inquisitive and intelligent.

"Most likely, at this time of year, there is a lot of food available and they don't have to spend as much time trying to stay alive.

"Picking up the balls and then dropping them is something they might do to entertain themselves."

Mr Nelson said young birds learning to forage could think that white balls were eggs – but they would soon realise and drop them. Where crows were seen stealing balls, players were allowed a replacement at the point of loss without penalty. But where the crime went unobserved, it cost the luckless players a shot.

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Unwelcome-birdies-at-West-End