redwing I obviously don't love them as much as you, that's why i came on gardeners world to see if any one else had a problem with them and what coulld be done about them, because as you put it i can't live with them.
We bought this house 23 years ago and not a sparrow in sight. 3 years of putting out fat balls and we finally had sparrows and assorted tots visiting. Now they are resident in the eaves and hedges we have planted and we're very pleased.
They hoover up aphids and caterpillars from our crops and roses to feed their nestlings so I never need sprays. I've never had any problems with them eating all the bean or pea flowers or the damson blossom so I would echo the advice to feed the adults with loose seeds plus peanut feeders and fat balls and make sure they have some water to drink. The reason they feed insects to their young is because of the high protein but also their water content.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I'm on your side Lyn. Much as I love nature, I don't want what should be in my larder destroyed in order to fill theirs! I put out food for the little *******, so if that't not good enough for them they can look elsewhere.
Redwing / Jinxy. If you can let us have your respective post codes I'll pass it on to our resident sparrows as a suggestion of the best location for a free meal.
Lyn: It is very sad that you feel that you can't live with Sparrows. It is you that said you "can't live with them", not me. I said, "learn to live with them". It is an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act to control wild birds, punishable by a fine or imprisonment. You can read about it in the following link:
Whilst I can joke about it, I feel it such a shame that as gardeners, we cannot appreciate what is around us without wanting to discourage or destroy ......
I have broad beans coming through at the moment in different locations in my gardens as part of a pollination experiment. I shall look forward to my sparrows' interest or otherwise in the forthcoming flowers
After the early pickings on the polyanthus (only the pink ones mind ) they are all blooming tremendously
I had a problem with sparrows eating my young lettuce plants - even doing it when I was standing nearby, although they never attacked my runner or pea flowers. Now I use cloches on any young plants and dot quite a few 5 foot canes around with strips of black plastic tied to the tops. The movement of the plastic in the breeze deters them.
I have a medium sized garden with a whole mixture of stuff planted inc flowers and wild flowers specifically to attract and encourage wildlife. A part of the garden is devoted to vegetables etc.
I have a great deal of wildlife and I believe much more than the average given that I'm less than 1/4mile from an RSPB reserve. Dozens of Sparrows, several Foxes, Dear, Rats, Squirrels and more. They all have there challenges from barking Foxes at 2am! to Sparrows nibbling at this that and the other to Rats steeling food put out for the birds etc.
I wouldn't be without them as I consider them to be all part of the whole thing. If wildlife in general visits your garden then I believe it to be a healthy garden and your should be proud to have them. Something you should be proud of even if it means giving up a little bit of your hard work for the benefit of our wild cousins now and then.
I deliberately leave in my last few cabbages, broccoli and sprouts to flower and go to seed for the birds, only 3/4 of my Strawberries are covered with a net each year.
Foxes, badgers, mice, rats, sparrows the whole lot are welcome in my garden with a little control in place but should a cat visit the garden, god help it as it will need all the help our lord has to offer it.
If want 20 Broad Beans I plant 25 to 30 and so on or perhaps an extra row. 20 for me and the rest for the wildlife in the garden.
Lyn, I sympathise, it's all very well saying learn to live with them, and posting rude roll eyes emoticons, but when they ruin your crop they are a pest. I'm afraid netting is perhaps the only answer. I have loads of sparrows, and they can destroy seedlings. They don't half make a racket when they are fighting and squabbling, which is often. I net my plants, but I do stretch the net. I freed a baby sparrow caught in a loose net, and as a reward it sank its beak into my finger. I feed the little blighters, and as far as I can see they scare away other birds such as greenfinches. Still, the local sprarrowhawk likes to feast on fresh sparrow reared on sunflower seeds. I'm not sure if feeding them stops them eating my crops, or just allows more to survive.
Posts
They have a go at my polyanthus - scatter it like confetti lyn - but I can live with that too Redwing
redwing I obviously don't love them as much as you, that's why i came on gardeners world to see if any one else had a problem with them and what coulld be done about them, because as you put it i can't live with them.
We bought this house 23 years ago and not a sparrow in sight. 3 years of putting out fat balls and we finally had sparrows and assorted tots visiting. Now they are resident in the eaves and hedges we have planted and we're very pleased.
They hoover up aphids and caterpillars from our crops and roses to feed their nestlings so I never need sprays. I've never had any problems with them eating all the bean or pea flowers or the damson blossom so I would echo the advice to feed the adults with loose seeds plus peanut feeders and fat balls and make sure they have some water to drink. The reason they feed insects to their young is because of the high protein but also their water content.
I'm on your side Lyn. Much as I love nature, I don't want what should be in my larder destroyed in order to fill theirs! I put out food for the little *******, so if that't not good enough for them they can look elsewhere.
Redwing / Jinxy. If you can let us have your respective post codes I'll pass it on to our resident sparrows as a suggestion of the best location for a free meal.
That would be brilliant KT53 - thank you - I'll get the extra dormitory ready
Lyn: It is very sad that you feel that you can't live with Sparrows. It is you that said you "can't live with them", not me. I said, "learn to live with them". It is an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act to control wild birds, punishable by a fine or imprisonment. You can read about it in the following link:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/forprofessionals/policy/wildbirdslaw/birdsandlaw/wca/
Whilst I can joke about it, I feel it such a shame that as gardeners, we cannot appreciate what is around us without wanting to discourage or destroy ......
I have broad beans coming through at the moment in different locations in my gardens as part of a pollination experiment. I shall look forward to my sparrows' interest or otherwise in the forthcoming flowers
After the early pickings on the polyanthus (only the pink ones mind
) they are all blooming tremendously 
I had a problem with sparrows eating my young lettuce plants - even doing it when I was standing nearby, although they never attacked my runner or pea flowers. Now I use cloches on any young plants and dot quite a few 5 foot canes around with strips of black plastic tied to the tops. The movement of the plastic in the breeze deters them.
I have a medium sized garden with a whole mixture of stuff planted inc flowers and wild flowers specifically to attract and encourage wildlife. A part of the garden is devoted to vegetables etc.
I have a great deal of wildlife and I believe much more than the average given that I'm less than 1/4mile from an RSPB reserve. Dozens of Sparrows, several Foxes, Dear, Rats, Squirrels and more. They all have there challenges from barking Foxes at 2am! to Sparrows nibbling at this that and the other to Rats steeling food put out for the birds etc.
I wouldn't be without them as I consider them to be all part of the whole thing. If wildlife in general visits your garden then I believe it to be a healthy garden and your should be proud to have them. Something you should be proud of even if it means giving up a little bit of your hard work for the benefit of our wild cousins now and then.
I deliberately leave in my last few cabbages, broccoli and sprouts to flower and go to seed for the birds, only 3/4 of my Strawberries are covered with a net each year.
Foxes, badgers, mice, rats, sparrows the whole lot are welcome in my garden with a little control in place but should a cat visit the garden, god help it as it will need all the help our lord has to offer it.
If want 20 Broad Beans I plant 25 to 30 and so on or perhaps an extra row. 20 for me and the rest for the wildlife in the garden.
Lyn, I sympathise, it's all very well saying learn to live with them, and posting rude roll eyes emoticons, but when they ruin your crop they are a pest. I'm afraid netting is perhaps the only answer. I have loads of sparrows, and they can destroy seedlings. They don't half make a racket when they are fighting and squabbling, which is often. I net my plants, but I do stretch the net. I freed a baby sparrow caught in a loose net, and as a reward it sank its beak into my finger. I feed the little blighters, and as far as I can see they scare away other birds such as greenfinches. Still, the local sprarrowhawk likes to feast on fresh sparrow reared on sunflower seeds.
I'm not sure if feeding them stops them eating my crops, or just allows more to survive.