Goodmorning all.
I have noticed in some of the great photos that have been put on this forum that many of you use white bird netting to protect plants. I went to the toy shop yesterday and saw they carry both black and white netting. If I use black, will birds not see it and fly into it? I certainly don’t want that to happen.

Black netting is used in professional bird traps. I used the horrid stuff a couple of years ago at uni to catch birds. We were tagging them and releasing them. The fun bit was trying to untangle them from the net!

My guess (and it is only a guess) black net will meld better with the shadows and background, and is therefore more likely to not be seen by birds.

Thanks pepe and SueBK. I certainly don’t fancy trying to disentangle a frightened bird or flying fox..

I would guess that most of the shops are supplied with the same stuff. I found that the black stuff was very poor quality, had no stretch and tangled badly. I did not entrap any birds but I think this is a good point. Go the white stuff.

Crinkle said:

Goodmorning all.
I have noticed in some of the great photos that have been put on this forum that many of you use white bird netting to protect plants. I went to the toy shop yesterday and saw they carry both black and white netting. If I use black, will birds not see it and fly into it? I certainly don’t want that to happen.

Black isn’t as good a quality.

Thanks all. I’m back from the toy shop with white netting.

Crinkle said:

Goodmorning all.
I have noticed in some of the great photos that have been put on this forum that many of you use white bird netting to protect plants. I went to the toy shop yesterday and saw they carry both black and white netting. If I use black, will birds not see it and fly into it? I certainly don’t want that to happen.

The nylon stuff at the toy shop is a death trap. The RSPCA tec have been tring to get them to remove it for ages.

http://www.wildlifefriendlyfencing.com/netting_solutions.htm

Crinkle said:

Thanks pepe and SueBK. I certainly don’t fancy trying to disentangle a frightened bird or flying fox..

Don’t even consider trying to untangle a FF. Ring your local wildlife group and they’ll send out a vaccinated carer.
You DON’T want Lyssavirus.

Thanks bl. That is all good stuff to know.

i sent an email to wildlifefriendlynetting, suggesting they add to the bird-netting (bare) article in wikipedia. got a reply today they’ll try to do that—expand the wikipedia article. so hopefully this info will be easier for everyone to find.