Graham,
I believe what you are seeing along roadsides is not Canola per se but is a feral plant
in the same genus which has been a scourge of grain growers from Victoria to Queensland
and probably further afield for over 100 years. It is variously known as Mustard or Turnip
here in Queensland and in my youth in Victoria was known as Charlock which is an old
English (Devonshire ?) name for the same plant which suggests to me it was a pest of grain
crops in England in the 19th century when my ansecesters and there contemporise came to
Victoria from Devon in the 1850's and they would have brought the name (and probably the
plant with them).
Anyway these are my thoughts, maybe some agri/botanist out there may be able to put me
straight if I am wrong.
With regard to GM Canola becoming a weed, I can't really see this happening or at least I
can't see it being any different to what we have now. To get back to our core subjects
birds I can't see any threat to birds from GM Canola any more than there is now from Wild
Mustard. The question of humans is another question altogether however!
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