Sparrows eating my lettuce?

[green fingers]

There I was looking lovingly at the cute sparrows, around 8 of them, all gathered round my lettuce bed feeding their babies on what I thought were bugs on my lettuce. I had noticed some holes in the leaves and assumed they were from some bug or other so was pleased to see the sparrows picking them off.

We went out and left them to it. When we came back I went to look and the little beggers had been eating and feeding their babies on my lettuces. Their beak marks all to evident to deny it.

I couldn't believe it, I had no idea sparrows would eat lettuce. I'm not too worried though as they only took the outside leaves and as they are little gems it's the hearts that are important. id does make my little garden look a bit untidy though.

Is this common?

Wendy.

[richardwil]

I have had a lot of problems with birds this year but I have not noticed them eating my lettuce. I would have thought they wouldn't do this but obviously they have.

Try a cat. They will not eat your lettuce, but they may dig them up to make a toilet. You will not win against nature so I find it best to try and work with it.

Cheers

[green fingers]

A cat is a sore point at the moment. Our old boy died in my arms last night after 20 years. I'm devastated.
As for the sparrows, they are still at it, even eating the 2 new seedlings I put in.

Wendy.

[richardwil]

Sorry about that. It can be devastating. I know when I lost my last cat when he was only 13 it really hurts.

Cannot have another as it was only after getting him as a kitten that we found my wife was allergic to cat fur. We kept him another 13 years but cannot get a new kitten for this reason.

I keep trying to persuade the two little girls next door (and their Mum) that they need a kitten so it can come and visit me.

It gets easier with time but that's no consolation at this moment in time. I hope things get better soon.

Cheers

[paul]

Hi GreenFingers,

Use old C.D's. this is what i've got hanging at various points around my allotment. This seems to work well. What else do you have near your lettice ?? not beans or broad beans by any chance ?? You could put up a feeding bag somewhere nearby and attract them there and they should leave your lettice alone.

[malcolmx]

i think you may find that the sparrows are eating bugs on the lettuce but as they eat the bug they are cutting the lettuce
cds or tape stretched over them work better to use fleece and keep bugs and birds off in one go

[green fingers]

Malcolm, if they were only eating the bugs then why would they be stuffing lumps of lettuce in their babies mouths? Plus I've had a good look and there aren't any bugs on them.

[Lesley Jay]

I must admit that I thought the same as Malcolm, that the sparrows were eating bugs, but finally after alot of searching I have found the info that sparrows find young lettuce plants irresistible! You need to use some chicken wire bent around the lettuce plants to keep the sparrows at bay.

[green fingers]

Thank god for that Lesly, I thought I had mutant sparrows that would eat my eyes next time I went into the garden. Who say's I watch too much TV?

[Moyra]

I have covered all my veggies by sticking marker poles on the outside of the grow bags, because mine are all in grow bags, putting a mini plant pot on the top of the poles to stop snagging and then covering entirely in fine netting. i.e. caging them in netting. As the netting is fine it keeps out the snails as well as the birds. Does mean I have to uncover to harvest but that's not too great a problem.

[Moyra]

This is before everything started to grow of course.

[green fingers]

That looks great Moyra. I have laid some net over the lettuce but have to remove it at night as we have a lot of hedgehogs that visit our garden and I worry they will get caught up in it.

It does the job to an extent. But if I don't get up early the devils take advantage. Next year I will grow extra so they can have as much as they want. They only take the outside leaves which I can spare anyway as they are little gem lettuce and the outside leaves are taken off. I put these out for the birds but my dog eats most of them. My dog loves veg of all kinds.

The only thing I object to is when I replace a harvested lettuce with a seedling and they start eating that.

[Moyra]

How about cutting an old lemondade bottle into a couple of rings of say 5" high and place this over the top of each seedling - you obviously will need a few bottles if you have quite a few seedlings but by the time the seedling starts to fill the ring it should be able to survive the odd pecking.

[green fingers]

Great idea Moyra. Better get drinking the cider, no time to spare. Hic

[Moyra]

Thinking about it .... it might be a good idea to cut the bottle in half and then use the two halves. You could cut a small hole in the bottom half so that it can still get air in. It struck me that the cheeky little monkeys might sit on the rim of the rings and balance and still get their little heads inside where as if you keep it as halves and only make the hole in the bottom about the size of the neck of the bottle that would stop their little game..........yes you had better get drinking quick! Ha ha.

[malcolmx]

i must say i thought sparrows were only seed eaters but obviously not you learn every day thats why gardening is so attractive i think