Encouraging birds to your lottie

[rustylady]

Rl - did you see the bit on was it Springwatch, or Birding with Bill Oddie where he shows the thousands and thousands of starlings in the beautiful patterns in the sky? I think its now used as part of an advert for larger. It's my FAVE piece of TV! Dexterdog

DDL, I live in Lowestoft right near the sea. I used to work in an office overlooking the harbour, and just before it started getting dark the starlings used to gather on the rooftops, the masts of the ships, and everywhere there was a perch. In between they used to fly in in smallish groups. they then all sit for a while, and at some sort of signal they all take off for their roosts inland - the patterns are just as you (and I) saw on tv and they are fantastic.

[dexterdoglancashire]

RL couldn't agree with your more, on both counts! Dexterdog

[Snadger]

Hi RL - despite I said I wasnt going to grow brassicas this year, now Ive got my lottie Ive changed my mind! They will be covered, and I mean WELL covered with netting from day one, then if anything does eat them, well then it had better watch out! Dexterdog

DDL, It will need to be fine netting to keep the cabbage whites out!

Once youve conquered the ariel pests and rabbits etc, you can start controlling the miriad of pests coming up out of the soil!!

It's a warzone out there!

[Alice]

It's swings and roundabouts DDL. I just let the birds have free reign. Sure they eat a few things but I won't die without what they eat - and I have the pleasure of their company.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Like you say Snadger, its a war out there if you are a brassica! DDL PS could always put Dexter the dog out there as a deterrent - he's currently going through a phase (yet another one) of barking at the moon! it may work?!

[Mrs Dobby]

Another tip from a DVD in my MOM pack was to water your brassicas with 1 tsp salt in a gallon of water, give the leaves a good dowsing, its supposed to make them unpalateable to both slugs and catterpillars, dont know if it will work with cabbage whites, but may be worth a go! What do folks think?

[dexterdoglancashire]

Thanks Mrs D - tried that, plus a water mixture of chili flakes and vinegar but the little b*****s still ate everything in sight! Dexterdog

[Snadger]

Another tip from a DVD in my MOM pack was to water your brassicas with 1 tsp salt in a gallon of water, give the leaves a good dowsing, its supposed to make them unpalateable to both slugs and catterpillars, dont know if it will work with cabbage whites, but may be worth a go! What do folks think?

Save you adding salt to your veg when you cook it I suppose!

[Sue]

DD
I have some trees on my allotment and they are now festooned with birdfeeders, sadly there are just not enough birds around. There's nobody else feeding the birds on the site and I think they thought I was a bit mad, but several of the old guys have commented on the birds that do come such as the rare visits from green and gold finches.
I have a ground feeder for the blackbirds and robins and sometimes I get some loutish magpies walking up the plot to join in.
I also put in a mini pond for them (upturned dustbin lid) and this is a popular bathing site and in the summer washing gets so vigorous you have to keep refilling.
Pigeons can be a problem, they come late afternoon to hoover up the dropped seed, I called them the treader family as in their quest for seeds, kept trampling over my new plants. They also ate my cabbages and the gooseberries but my fault for not covering, too green to know that they did this.
It all costs a small fortune though but still I love to see them and keep a pair of mini binocs and a bird guide to watch them during tea breaks.
Sue
Sue

[dexterdoglancashire]

Thanks for your advice Sue! I'm going down to my lottie tomorrow (gosh! how I LOVE typing that......"going down to my lottie"!!!) and have already bought a couple of bags of nuts and seeds, somewhere I've got one of those water dishes that hangs from a tree which I will dig out as well.
I buy sunflower seeds and nuts and birdseed in bulk, so thanks for the advice - I reckon I have the whole of the population of goldfinches visiting my front garden, so hopefully will be able to do the same on my lottie.
Have seen sparrows, a dunnock, blackbirds and a robin so far. Dexterdog

[pigletwillie]

One of the best ways to attract birds is to give them a nest box, easily made out of scraps of timber.

I have two on each plot and two were inhabited with Blue tits last summer.

Here is a link to easy plans from the BTO

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpin...xes/making.asp

[JennieAtkinson]

Jennie, if you actually spend some time watching the starlings you will find that they spend more time arguing amongst themselves than they do eating anything.

Oh if only! Two years ago we had (we reckoned) about 40 birds nesting in the walls around our house. In fact they made such a mess getting their nests built they undermined part of the wall and it collapsed! Unfortunately being listed, it cost us a bomb to get it built again.

They they get bored and bite the heads off nasturtiums (and a number of other young plants), just for the hell of it, and graze on the clematis until it is just a stick. There are so many of them they also frighten off the blackbirds, sparrows and wrens, which is a shame. I DO actually like them, but its hard to love them when they are so destructive!

[Waffler]

I only have a garden, not a lottie (though it is a big garden). We have fruit trees and bushes and have put up seed and peanut feeders and fat balls to encourage bird life and also occasionally chuck bread out. This has proven very successful as we now have a regular visit from a woodpecker to the nut feeder (?) and plentiful visits from goldfinches, bull finches (for seed heads), blackbirds, various tits, starlings, magpies, crows (I had 3 on my nut feeder and they managed to weigh it down so much it fell down!) I've also seen robins (love 'em), wrens and more recently a kingfisher has been visiting the pond! We've only been here for the one full growing season, but we haven't had any troubles with birds taking anything - even the blackcurrants!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Waffler - your garden sound like a birds paradise! How wonderful to have all those different birds. In my front garden I've had a woodpecker on only 3 occasions, but what a lovely surprise! My regulars are blackbirds, wood pigeons, goldfinches, greenfinches, sparrows, the odd blue tit and of course, mr robin. Dexterdog