Birds

[Andy Hamilton]

I shall start sowing seeds soon but instead of planting one for the rook and one for crow, one to rot and one to grow. I would prefer to plant just one to rot and one to grow. The way I normaly get around stopping birds from eating my seeds is to cut out the chance that they get I only plant a few things straight out and grow a lot from seedlings.

I don't grow fuit at the moment either but I might be growing some strawberries at some point. I thought about covering them with netting to keep the birds off. Also I have seen CD's strung up all over the allotment as bird scarrers. Any other suggestions?

[diver]

I put canes in with plastic bottles on top...only I never have enough bottles and have to get them from neighbours, ...the bottles move in the wind and the noise frightens the birds...also you can string old video tape out tied to canes ,this hums in the wind and again the noise frightens the birds...also I feed the birds in the hope that they will leave my plants alone

[Andy Hamilton]

Video tape that is a new one on me. Do you have to keep the tape pretty taught? I had seen a few bottles on canes around and thought that had something to do with earwig traps , makes more sense now

[Wombat]

Back when I was a kid they used bits of mirror, now as you mentioned, they use CDs. I have had good effect from CDs strung across the plot on fishing line.

I have seen models of predatory birds or cats for sale to act as bird scarers but I don't know how effective they are.

Nev

[judyofthewoods]

Not tried any of the above, but on a visit to the Center for Alternative Technology during the cherry ripening season, I saw a display which convinced me about the value of netting. They covered half the tree with net, the other not. Well, the covered side was bright red, heaving with fruit, and there wasn't a cherry to be seen on the other half! Will certainly be netting my trees this year.