as beautiful as their songs are, they’ve become a daily nuisance in my garden digging up worms, especially in freshly sown garden beds and around seedling roots. i’ve been having to clean up mulch every day, and seeds don’t germinate. very disheartening to have your efforts thwarted by little birds, and seeing the mess. netting is not always practical. i think i’ve finally found the answer: metal 50mm mesh straight onto soil. i’ve cut it up into sections and laid it down. idea is that most vegies will be able to grow through the mesh but the birds can’t dig. yesterday was the first full day of the mesh being on the soil, and found no excavations when i got home.
previously i’d tried bird scaring tape, scarecrow, and netting. netting is most effective of those three, but only if you can exclude entry 100% without any gaps.
other birds don’t seem to cause problems like the blackbirds.

other birds don’t seem to cause problems like the blackbirds.
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yep the blackbirds are little fossicking nightmares. they love mulch.
i just have to live with them – too much ground to cover it in wire.

So you don’t want mine then????

Poxy black buggers:(

the mesh idea is being trialled at Heronswood as a means of spacing your plants to best advantage. Radishes one to a square, larger plants need more squares per plant. They commented that they were losing less to birds as well.

second day lucky….still no digging happening by the blackbirds with the mesh on.

aquarium said:

second day lucky….still no digging happening by the blackbirds with the mesh on.

Think you may have beaten them at the game.

now i feel double lucky…Lucky

Lucky1 said:

aquarium said:

second day lucky….still no digging happening by the blackbirds with the mesh on.

Think you may have beaten them at the game.

other birds don’t seem to cause problems like the blackbirds.

You’re right there, Aqua, blackbirds are little buggers. I’ve just spent the afternoon netting our cherry tree. Half an hour later they’re trying to get in. The mesh seems like a good idea, I’ve already lost a lot of carrot seedlings to the birds. Ta, I’ll try it !

i had already 100mm mesh spare but didn’t use that, as i think they could dig easily with such large gaps. the 50mm mesh trip to bunnings paid off, so to speak. a couple of years ago i had used spare very small sections of fine mesh…but that gets tangled up in plants badly.

Some people don’t want to harm any living being and I fully comprehend AHIMSA.

However.. blackbirds and starlings can stretch one’s patience to the point of intending harm.

Some people resort to scraping back the mulch and placing ratsak there covering it with the mulch again.. “so they go away to die” .. quoting from a cherry grower.

Others like my harmless but devious mother who used rat traps with a bit of red or black fruit on them.. caught heaps. Rat traps however need to be carefully used. as these may harm banjo frogs if on the ground, which is where I would recommend placing them as they can catch other birds if on grave vine trellises for example.

An air rifle is not a good option as for a start you aren’t supposed to be using one without a license and other restrictions. However blackbirds are way too cunning and there are too many of them.

The mesh idea is great as it would mostly be covered by mulch. However it is the young seedlings upturned with their roots in the air.. when I arrive home from work.. that makes my anger simmer for ways of stopping blackbirds.

roughbarked said:

The mesh idea is great as it would mostly be covered by mulch. However it is the young seedlings upturned with their roots in the air.. when I arrive home from work.. that makes my anger simmer for ways of stopping blackbirds.

I have cheap wire waste bins bought from the $2 shop which I pop over seedlings. by the time they have outgrown the bin they are big enough to withstand the blackbirds.

by the way.. one may purchase an 8 metre roll of gutter guard for approx $2.
Thus be able to protect strips 18 cm wide and 8 m long.

roughbarked said:

by the way.. one may purchase an 8 metre roll of gutter guard for approx $2.
Thus be able to protect strips 18 cm wide and 8 m long.

I use this as little fences to stop the blackbirds relocating mulch to the driveway, lawn etc. Using short lengths of cane as fenceposts. It works well. Also I place short pieces of it lying flat on containers and pots. These get excavated when I use worm wee to feed the plants.

for covering the strawberry patch it is probably better to use bird wire.
bird netting for covering trees like your favourite cherry works well but blackbirds walk in under.

However this allows you to despatch them as they are trapped once inside the net.