Topic: nasty pigeons

[paulinems]

well they have done it again i put a lot off differant brasica plants in ,took me ages to plant them,and them nasty pigeons have just left storks all that was left is the ones i grew from seed myself the others were covered with hubbys fishing nets and the blow over when we had all that wind,theothers had a differant net over them, probley a rabbit had a go as well as hubby made hole in fence with his tractor last year, and said he fixed it but think one got in,we have also had the rats and mice pinching peas as we had some left over that a farmer gave us and had a pink coating on them we found dead rat outside polytunnel peas were planted all over our other plants ,and pieces off the peas around,last year it was acorns
pauline

[Sparkly]

Sorry to hear that Pauline. Pigeons have all destroyed all my brassica plants. I had covered them with netting, but made the (wrong) decision to take them off when I thinned them. I had left them a bit too long and the plants were quite big so I thought they would be ok. I am going to re-cover and see if they can recover!

[RSJK]

I have to keep the nets on at all times my brassicas  if not iI pay the price of not doing so by loosing them all. I think wood pigeons find allotments a God send nowadays with the decline of market gardeners in this country.

[lasder99]

I also have a Wood Pidgeon problem but this year, as well as netting all my main Brassica's I planted a sacrificial boundry outside of Walking Stick Kale ( a wyvale 10p packet !) which they left alone during the summer when there was plenty of other fare. However, now winter is truely upon us, they have been eating it...slowly.
I guess that although it's less tasty than the Brussells, it's easier to get at and so they are reluctantly taking it.
I finally have a glut of sprouts, swede, savoy and Red cabbage thanks to idle, workshy pidgeons !

[Robert_Brenchley]

I haven't put any brassicas in this year thanks to overwork last spring, but I finf they're left alone all summer, but once we get a cold snap, they soon start to be attacked, and it goes on until the warmer weather arrives. When I was a kid, my father never had to net his at all. It seems to depend on the habits of the local pigeons.