Australian fruit grower tries to scare bats with bagpipes

A Queensland orchardist says he is so under siege from fruit bats that he has even tried playing bagpipes to scare them away from his crop.

But Bob Johnson said even the drone of his pipes has done little to keep the bats away from his orchard near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt.



He has managed to harvest only 1757kg of fruit instead of the average 16,478kg.

"Our income has literally been eaten by a veritable plague of bats," said Mr Johnson, who runs the small orchard with his wife Sue.