Lilac Tree Problem
Azzer
Posts: 2
Hi - hope you can see the photo ok. My lilac has been munched by a very greedy something, but no idea what. It's from the top of my very young tree downwards. The lower parts of the tree are unaffected so it's not slugs and can see no other wildlife other than a dinky spider. Does anyone know if there is a breed of bird that likes to lunch on lilac ? Am so disappointed as this is the 1st out of 3 years in the ground that it's flowered. 
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I'm sorry about your lilac - in our garden honeysuckle bushes and our plum tree look just the same. The young leaves at the top of the plants have been stripped/nibbled and the flowering has been adversely affected. It's wood pigeons, in our case. They are really voracious.
I use black cotton thread across the branches of plants where I can reach, to deter them, but it is difficult to do this high up.
There is a possibility it could be an attacked by Vine Weevils. It does look quite bad. Best way to see is try to lay a base area with tarpulain and shake the bush gently over it. If you see dark beetle-like insects falling out, then you have them nibbling at your bush.
Thank you to Borderline and Hallsub. I've had a suspicion it was birds as I've moved my bird feeder recently and the pigeons now sit on the fence beside the lilac. So do the squirrels that used to pinch the birds' peanuts! I didn't know for sure that pigeons eat leaves though. My cat isn't doing a very good job! I'll ring up something to stop them. Thank you so much.
Please don't string black cotton around the garden. It has caused countless cases of entanglement to small birds , robins goldfinches, blackbirds , some lose limbs, some lose their lives
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good point about the cotton - thanks. I won't resort to that method again. Has anyone any safer ideas about how to deter pigeons eating tree leaves?
I believe they do in fact attack quite a wide range of plants.