Protecting plants from birds

Steve and Val Bradley offer options for stopping crop damage

- Steve and Val

IT’S great to encourage birds into the garden, both to watch and to help by eating insects like greenfly. The downside is that they can also cause damage to our plants.

We usually think about netting plants during the second part of the growing season, when the birds notice that fruits are starting to ripen, but bird damage can occur at any time of year.

Identifying bird damage

Tender new shoots and leaves can prove attractive to birds early in the season, with many vegetables and some ornamental plants seemingly regarded as tasty. During a hard winter or a period of cold weather, when birds get hungry or have young to feed, they can turn their attention to such plants. You can usually identify bird damage by the V-shaped notches they make in the leaves with their beaks. This is unlike caterpillar or vine weevil damage, which tends to be rounded.

Protection options