On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 10:21:54 +0000 (UTC), J Jackson
wrote:

Jupiter wrote:
: There's been a bit of discussion lately about sweet cherries so a word
: of warning. We have a heavily cropping mature sweet cherry in our
: garden and the cherries are delicious - the ones left for us, that is!
: They are exceedingly attractive to birds and squirrels and they will
: literally gorge on them. Wood Pigeons like them and Blackbirds are
: quite destructive, often slashing into cherries and leaving them
: damaged rather than taking the whole fruit. We even have a pair of
: Carrion Crows regularly feeding on them. When they come all other
: birds leave the garden, although the pigeons will try to stand up to
: them for so long. Today a flock of Starlings, 50 at least, descended
: on the tree, but left in a hurry when an indignant Lord Crow dropped
: vertically into the top, staying to eat a couple of cherries himself.
: If anyone is hoping for a viable crop, rather than the occasional
: treat, it will almost certainly be necessary to protect the ripe
: cherries. Pigeons even take them green.

And if you think you have it sorted by netting the trees (mine are on
dwarfing root stock, but it's still a job and a half), then when they
ripen the wasps get in and get them once they are near ripe.

My cherries are just about finished now (the ones still left) and the
wasps haven't shown up yet. However, the neighbouring plum tree is
coming along nicely - again a heavy crop this year and I've had to
support some of the branches. Being bigger than cherries, wasps can
get right inside them so care is needed when picking them. They get
drunk on the windfalls and buzz around at ankle level, incapable of
taking off properly. Bit like our local bingedrinking ASBO merchants
who can't find their way home at night.