Bob Hobden wrote:

Are you certain there was fruit there? I say that as usually the
first flowers on any cucurbit are male.

There is some fruit that's OK but there was what looked like a
half-eaten courgette the other day that has now gone completely. There
also appears to be various other damage (e.g. chunks out, snapped off)
to a few of the stems and I saw a Blackbird close-by earlier today, so
I checked all the plants over.

It shouldn't be an issue now anyway because of the fleece so I was just
wondering if they were seen as a juicy snack for the birds or something
else.

Of course, I'm pretty new to this gardening lark and this is the first
year that I've grown veg (apart from toms & potatoes) so it's all a bit
of a learning curve.

--
Chris