Avian Crime Prevention

Mr Owl on guard.

No owl and no flowers!

Year after year birds have been stripping the flower buds from the Wisteria which grows up the south wall of the house. Sparrows are the biggest culprits closely followed by blue tits and great tits. Their gourmet feeding station is very close by so, last year just before the flower buds began to swell, we moved it to the north side of the house. It made no difference whatever and they completely scalped it. Now - as much as we love and care for our song birds, eating flower buds on the king of climbers is not easily tolerated!

This year we tried something new. After moving the feeding station away from the Wisteria, we installed a large plastic owl with a rotating head. Guess what! Loads of beautiful flowers near the owl and not a single flower the other side of the Jasmine from where the owl can't be seen. Moral: more plastic owls needed!!