I've had a couple of extra tenants on my patch recently. My redcurrant bush has been host to a blackbird nest with two cute wee fledgelings, and it looks like today is going to be a big day for them!
They're out of the nest for the very first time, looking rather apprehensive, and mum is calling them right now from the peach tree across the way. Good luck little ones!
I'd love to know what influences birds to feed from certain crops or not. The redcurrant bush is currently laden with fruit, and the raspberries next to it are still doing pretty well too, but the birds never seem to go for my berry crops. (Even when they're living there, it seems!) Yet I have several friends who have to net their berries assiduously every year to get even a few for themselves.
I count my blessings in this case, but what gets hammered in my garden instead is peas and lettuces. It's the sparrows that do 'em in, and I must say I don't think it's very neighbourly behaviour (sniff). Unless I net the pea plants from day one the poor things never get a chance to grow - they're just eaten down to nubs. If I net them until they're flowering they survive, but they still get ripped to shreds, reducing their crop significantly.
Oh well. I'm glad it's not the berries, anyway.
