birds vs berries

[Holly]

Hello grapes,

What is the most humane way that you keep birds away from fruit and berry harvests? Do you have any advice for making sure they don't get caught in netting, or have you found any particularly effective bird-scarers that really keep them away in the first place?

I'd love to hear any tips you have on creating a peaceful, bird-free fruit patch!



Your comments may be edited and printed in the June issue of Grow Your Own magazine

[starloc]

i found that cd`s hanging round worked to some extent, but better results came from foot long pieces of reflective tape tied to plants ( i used foil for hotfoil printing ) it scares off most birds from eating the fruit

but.....Squirels like the cd`s they play with them........so to stop plant damage i needed to feed them bowls of nuts to keep them interested in something else

[FB.]

Find out when you local cherry trees are ripe and make sure that your first fruits ripen after the cherries.

....or plant a cherry tree to draw the birds attention (but beware of the hail of pips from the rooftop and the lucky charms the birds leave on your washing and car.

[Two_Sheds]

I have rescued lots of birds (mostly blackbirds) tangled up in my neighbour's loose netting. Once a little corpse, legs horribly entwined

I just throw a bit of voile over my currant bushes as they ripen. The strawbs I cover with netting, but pulled taut and pegged down.
My raspberries don't get bothered, and I've never had any fruit on gooseberry (sawfly)

[Speed Gardener]

For my soft fruit, I stretch netting over frames to keep the birds at bay. I inspect regularly to ensure no gaps, particularly at the bottom as some birds hop along the ground to get in under the nets. If they can't get in, they can't get stuck. For the cherry tree at home, I strap a 10ft pole to the trunk and hang a net from it that falls down over the tree. We got about 20lbs of cherries last year. I'm keeping the tree prunes back so that it still fits under the net. You don't realise how much of your fruit the birds get until you stop them..

[Nicos]

I'm having success with seaside windmills dotted about the place!

[Aberdeenplotter]

A number of years ago,I was gifted a couple of tubular aluminium walk in fruit cages by the family of an ex customer who had died. The netting was past its best and I had to invest in more but it has been very much worth the expense. What I have found is that the birds tend not to try to get access from the roof and by keeping the bottom of the netting well pegged down, it seems to discourage them from trying to get in that way(It is loose netting that traps birds). I'm not totally heartless though and have a row of raspberries on the boundary of my plot(which also acts as a living fence) and the birds have free access to the fruit there.

The fruit cage I have around my(as opposed to the ones I leave for the birds) raspberry canes is made from metposts and three inch square posts with chicken wired fixed all around and over the top. No possibility of accidents using that method. It was a bit pricey but it will last for years.

[gojiberry]

I usually select which fruit to protect (usually strawberries and blueberries) and tend to share the rest with the birds. There is usually plenty of raspberries for both of us and same with tayberry, blackberry, cranberry, boysenberry and aronia. They don't touch the gooseberries. Will be watching out this year though as I have honeyberry, currants and sascatoon which I have not had in the past.

Ian

[Hans Mum]

I use net curtains on some things held in place with clothes pegs, last year DD's trampoline was damaged & unsafe to use I rescued all the aluminium poles and the safety net and constructed a 'fruit cage'. My currants were safe

[fruitylou]

I use net and ensure it is all pulled taught to prevent birds from becoming entwinned, I also use some structures made with chicken wire which they cannot get tangled in but this is obviously harder to store when not in use. We also feed the birds daily away from the protected fruit so that they have an easier and thus hopefully more tempting offer. This year I have lots of those seaside windmills dotted about as we buy one for the little'un when we go to garden centres as a bribe so we shall see how these fare. Failing all that a squeeling toddler running around usually does the job.

[Storm]

I have heard that bird scaring devices only work if you change them from time to time. if you leave them out all year long then the birds learn after a while that there is nothing to fear and just get used to them. So it's best to keep trying different things for a week at a time.

I don't know if that's true or not, but there are many human-made things in the environment that birds are clearly not scared of (e.g. letter boxes, road signs etc.) and there are a couple of blackbirds and robins at the allotment that are so at ease with humans that they will come to within touching distance without fear!!!

I have found that the birds will strip blueberries and strawberries out and cover them with netting. They seem to leave blackcurrants and gooseberries alone.

[summerfruits]

I have used 'buzz off' lines of strange material (looks a bit like the stuff you used to find in cassette tapes) which apparently birds find annoying and therefore don't land - bought in a local hardware store so not sure how easily you can get hold of it. This seemed to work last year on my strawberries - my bigger problem was woodlice eating them (any cures for that??). I have also used upside down yoghurt pots on sticks and old CDs. I notice on the allotments near me a lot of people tie plastic supermarket bags to poles and these wave around in the wind - probably quite effective though a little unsightly!

[ugley_matt]

Last year i never got around to putting the netting up over the raspberries and i didnt loose any of them to birds. I have a couple of bird feeders that are constatnly stocked up so maybe they prefered that to my fruit. Might be worth a try.

[BUFFS]

i use the aluminium tape that has had the sticky sides put together and tied to some of the upper branches,about 12ins long,they have better effect than a cd as there is more movement in them,we have over 100 jackdaws round here and they strip off anything they can,like flying hoovers,so i am not taking any chances, just in case.....

[Tapper]

I have threaded bottle tops (from lovely Magners cider) onto string, like a multi headed metal conker, and then dangled 3 strings above my fruit bush patch and it seems to have done the trick. There are lots of birds perching around watching but there are more importantly lots of untouched berries, currants and goosegogs just waiting to be picked.