Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:171086

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 23:20:19 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

~in article , jane at
wrote on 15/10/03 11:03 pm:
~
~ On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:47:00 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
~ wrote:
~
~ ~
~ ~"jane" wrote in message
~ ...
~ ~ On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 15:22:40 +0100, "Lucy" wrote:
~ ~
~ ~ ~I underlaid a large Pyracantha with bark with the idea that fallen dead
~ ~ ~leaves would not show up as much as with gravel. It is working up to a
~ ~ ~point, but the blackbirds are throwing it all over the adjacent paving as
~ ~ ~they search for insects. As they start at dawn and continue on and off
~ ~ ~until dusk, it is hard to keep up with them. Does anyone know of a way of
~ ~ ~stabilising the bark?
~ ~ ~Lucy
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~ black (coloured) bird netting?
~ ~
~ ~That is very bad. You might get blackbirds and thrushed caught up in them.
~ ~The truth is that there is no so;ution for the problem of birds throwing
~ ~mulches around. It is just one of the features of gardening.
~
~ I *did* wonder about them getting caught before suggesting it, but then
~ thought why do they sell it as netting to keep birds off fruit - so they
~ must be able to get free. Hence the suggestion had a ? in it.
~
~ I've never found a bird caught apart from one that got under some very fine
~ green plastic mesh while scrumping next door's gooseberries, and even that
~ got out fast when it heard me coming...
~
~
~
~Not being a black bird, I can't speak for them but birds that land on the
~ground haven't seen the mesh in the same way as birds see it, stretched out
~over e.g. fruit cages. I have seen a sparrowhawk in our own garden, perched
~on top of the dovecote peering at the doves inside the netting. I've seen
~another (or maybe the same) sparrowhawk, on the ground entangled in the
~netting.

True - in that case I could perhaps refine the suggestion. If it's not too
big a patch of bark, perhaps chickenwire sprayed a dark colour might work
as they couldn't get tangled up in it. I'm just trying to come up with an
answer to the question. I have a lot of rigid plastic garden mesh and the
like on bare soil about the place, but that's to stop excavations by the
local c*ts and birds definitely don't get caught in that.

For that matter, the vertical stick method of keeping off the c*ts also
might work for keeping off blackbirds if the sticks are close enough, but I
suspect it would look rather odd!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

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