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Nesting birds untie my string

yorkshireroseyorkshirerose North YorkshirePosts: 311
in Wildlife gardening
Does anyone else have the problem with sparrows untying jute string? I have watched them tugging away at the string when I have tied in clematis and roses, they are very persistent.

I decide to offer some help to them,saved all the 'off cuts' and spent a few hours shredding each of the  strands to make them soft and fluffy for nests. I then put them, along with some cotton wool into a disused feeder. The birds love it and now leave my clematis/rose ties alone.
It is amusing to see little birds fly off with a great beakful of nesting material - like flying Father Christmas'
A gardener's work is never at an end  - (John Evelyn 1620-1706)

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 10,021
    What a great idea!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 17,132
    Well done.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Third rock from the sunPosts: 25,044
    Blue and Great tits and a blackbird completely trashed the coir linings of my wall baskets for their nesting materials but you have to love them

    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • wild edgeswild edges The north west of south east WalesPosts: 3,259
    A blackbird here has been wrestling with a 2 foot long piece of twine tied to an old post for a few days now. I thought he'd give himself whiplash trying to yank it loose.
  • SuesynSuesyn Posts: 161
    I had some old leaky cushions which I was going to throw away so I put the feathers from those into a feeder, its given me hours of entertainment! I have enough feathers to last until the next millennium. 
  • HelixHelix 704m altitude...Posts: 540
    I hang out bags of the fur from brushing our dog....they love it. 
  • IamweedyIamweedy Cheshire East. Posts: 1,347
    I want to know which bird went off with my hemp garden twine when I was tying in my clematis. The rest of it has probably merged with the soil. Or tipped over the fence. I am a green garden twine addict.
     I find tying in my plants very soothing.



    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • pansyfacepansyface PEAK DISTRICT DerbyshirePosts: 14,866
    Just seen a squirrel stealing several metres of good, new twine that I had, only tree days ago, used to tie up my Generous Gardener rose.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
  • philippa smith2philippa smith2 Posts: 7,201
    I have had the same problem as Ladybird - coir liners are "the must have " for sparrow nests.
    I very carefully made a nice little bunch and hung it from a tree.  Result ? - a year later and the bunch was untouched - unlike my liners :/
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