Allotments 4 All

Please be gentle with me. I'm a complete newbie and I've only had my lottie for 5 days:)

Is it ok to attract birds to your allotment? I'm not on about pigeons, they are like rats with wings and my town is plagued with them, I'm talking more about finches and sparrows etc.

I live in a new property that was only finished 2 years ago and I'm having major problems attracting birds to my garden. Now I have my lottie I thought it might be nice to attract them there and they could help with the pest patrol. So, is this a good idea or will other people on the allotments shoot me a spud gun for even thinking it?

I have bird feeders on my plot, one each for nuts and seed. Other plot neighbours do as well. We see blue tits, wrens, robins, sparrows, garden warblers as well as the less welcome magpies and pigeons.

Solorn
welcome to a4a
bird feeders sounds cute
lbb

hi and welcome, encouraging birds is a good thing but remember to protect your veges that they are also attracted to, such as soft fruit, sometimes peas/ bean flowers are relished by sparrows (at least in my garden).  don't despair about the length of time it taking to get them to come to your garden just persevere. here is a site that might give you some pointers in attracting them. congrates on your new plot and have fun.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/wildlifegarden/

We have a sparrow hawk or kestral (it does not stay still long enough to tell which) over the allotment and I have Blue and Great Tits,  Jays,  Sparrows and a Robin that visit regular.
It takes the boredom out of weeding when all the birds are about.

If you put a pole/stick (a fork or spade is also ideal) in the ground about 4' high then the Robins will visit and sit there watching you work and come down to pick at the worms you have brought to the top of the dirt pile.

shame the barrel is the same colour as the robin.

Neil

I think I will put out a feeder over the winter for them and nothing in the summer months. Apparently that will help prevent them eating my red currents:) Thank you for all your input.

I did see one bird on the lottie yesterday, a heron! Can't get much better than that.

Quote from: Solorn on October 08, 2008, 20:40:00
I think I will put out a feeder over the winter for them and nothing in the summer months. Apparently that will help prevent them eating my red currents:) Thank you for all your input.

Nothing other then netting will stop the turdus family (aka blackbird, thrush, etc) from eating your redcurrants.  Sorry Solorn, but unless you protect your bushes you won't get any fruit.

Oh, and don't just drape the netting over the bushes.  The birds just use this as a perch to peck though, to get at the best fruit.

Trust the voice of experience. :( ;D

valmarg





valmarg

Lots of people encourage birds on our plots and they are good for the bio diversity. I grow lots of fruit (red and black currents, strawberries and raspberries) and have never netted any of it. I find that they produce so much fruit that there is no harm in losing some of it to the birds. There's enough to go round.

I keep the cabbages netted though otherwise the pigeons strip them bare.

If you keep an eye on your hawk, Nilly, you'll soon work out which it is. Kestrels hover a lot, and mostly feed on the ground. Sparrowhawks fly around cover like trees or hedges to surprise the small birds they feed on. You often get a good look at a hovering kestrel, you hardly get more than a glimpse of a sparrowhawk shooting past.

Best view of a sparrowhawk I ever got was from a car - that way we managed to keep up as it flew by the side of a road in the fens.  It was on Christmas Day a couple of years ago after a walk in the limewoods and a lunchtime visit to Bards in Bardney. :)

Hi Solorn... I managed to attract a really tame robin last winter. See my blog site for Jan-08 for pictures. Unfortunately didn't see him again once weather warmed up.

Just be careful about attracting rats & mice.

We have a tame Robin on our lottie and it seems to follow us all the time waiting for worms, it even seemed to be around in the summer.  ;D ;D ;D

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on October 08, 2008, 22:26:08
If you keep an eye on your hawk, Nilly, you'll soon work out which it is. Kestrels hover a lot, and mostly feed on the ground. Sparrowhawks fly around cover like trees or hedges to surprise the small birds they feed on. You often get a good look at a hovering kestrel, you hardly get more than a glimpse of a sparrowhawk shooting past.

Thanks for the info ;) it maybe a sparrowhawk as it never hovers.

Neil

I have always put up bird feeders on my lotty, and always will do.
However, sparrows will be after some fresh greens in the spring ... they stripped my chard and beetroot this year, so I had to net them (carefully ... you don't want little birdy legs getting trapped in loose flappy netting)