I agree with Pansyface. A gentle scare from the opposite end to the door, they won't understand coaxing.
If the bird is young and needs help, it will have a parent nearby.
Bumble Bees are also problem for me. Although i accept that they are useful for pollinating, they often seem to be trying to get out. Catching them gently or wafting them out is difficult with vines/wires.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Is there any need to shut the greenhouse door at night at this time of year? No one I know does that.
I prefer not to let any of the neighbours cats get in at night and we have a hedgehog now and then. Just something I've always done it does get quite cool in the North at the moment duelling tge night time.
I've got a string curtain across the door of the greenhouse as the birds were getting in there quite frequently. It moves constantly with even the smallest air movement but the insects still manage to get in. I was looking for one of those gaudy plastic things but found this at a car boot sale.
Given that fledgling birds are usually hopping along the ground rather than flying, would putting a sheet of ply a couple of feet tall against the doorway during the day keep them out and still let the insects in?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I agree with the "going round to the opposite side to the door " approach . The natural instinct is to get away from the Human.
Even with door curtains the insects go in and out through the windows, but it's a balance you need to work out. Even with the door and windows wide open l find dead bees , they seem to have an instinct to fly up into the roof space and can't work out where to go.
The smaller birds seem able to work things out generally speaking. The most damage l had was caused by a pigeon that behaved like a Sherman tank. A week or so back l had a squirrel in there. I left it to it's own devices and it left eventually. The only damage was to a (non working) solar owl on the top shelf.
So sad about the bird drowning in the watering can. I have never had that, thank goodness.
It was such a shock to find a small dead bird in the watering can, I now ensure I put a lid on it. I have a 'pot noodle' top container on for easier filling from the water butt and find that a saucer bottom for small pots fits perfectly on top, for peace of mind now. I keep it filled so the temperature is kept ambient for the tomatoe and pepper plants.
Even with door curtains the insects go in and out through the windows, but it's a balance you need to work out. Even with the door and windows wide open l find dead bees , they seem to have an instinct to fly up into the roof space and can't work out where to go.
I wish greenhouses would come with openable windows at the highest point of the side walls (the top triangle of glass). Entomologists use a Malaise Trap for catching certain flying insects and a greenhouse is basically a very similar design, just with added bait. Windows at the highest points would let them straight out.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I've only had a few birds in the greenhouse but we have had more in our fruit cage down the allotment. It is about half the size of a tennis court and there is far more fruit than we can eat/give away, so we leave at least one of the sides halfway up so that the blackbirds can get in and out easily. Sometimes we find something bigger, like a pigeon or just a distressed looking blackbird and I found that if you go in and then straight out again, that blackbirds at least, see how you got in and out and fly straight out when you give them some space. The biggest thing I fear is not that they are trapped but that they might dehydrate before they figure out how to get out.
I get them flying in occasionally. Mainly Starlings. I almost always gently scoop them up in my hands and take them out They don't seem to mind...well, not that much, although they make a bit of a racket!
Posts
If the bird is young and needs help, it will have a parent nearby.
Bumble Bees are also problem for me. Although i accept that they are useful for pollinating, they often seem to be trying to get out. Catching them gently or wafting them out is difficult with vines/wires.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I was looking for one of those gaudy plastic things but found this at a car boot sale.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Even with door curtains the insects go in and out through the windows, but it's a balance you need to work out. Even with the door and windows wide open l find dead bees , they seem to have an instinct to fly up into the roof space and can't work out where to go.
The smaller birds seem able to work things out generally speaking. The most damage l had was caused by a pigeon that behaved like a Sherman tank.
A week or so back l had a squirrel in there. I left it to it's own devices and it left eventually. The only damage was to a (non working) solar owl on the top shelf.
So sad about the bird drowning in the watering can. I have never had that, thank goodness.
It was such a shock to find a small dead bird in the watering can, I now ensure I put a lid on it. I have a 'pot noodle' top container on for easier filling from the water butt and find that a saucer bottom for small pots fits perfectly on top, for peace of mind now. I keep it filled so the temperature is kept ambient for the tomatoe and pepper plants.
The biggest thing I fear is not that they are trapped but that they might dehydrate before they figure out how to get out.