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Stopping birds eating grass seed
richwebb40
Posts: 15
Any tips on stopping birds eating grass seed? I thought about covering the area with fresh cut grass but I'm not sure how effective this would be. I suppose lightly raking it in would help as well. Any other tips?
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Posts
Make a scarecrow.
Don't cover it, the old cut stuff will only stop air and light getting to the seed. As you said, lightly raking in should be enough to allow most of the seed to escape the notice of the birds.
H-C
Put out crushed peanuts or another high energy bird food until the grass seed has taken. Birds will generally favour the high energy food over the grass seed. You may wish to put some feed in feeders and on the ground to attract ground feeders.
Of course you could go with the old saying which usually works:
One for the rook
One for the crow
One to rot
And one to grow.
In the garden centre they were selling reflective tape which is supposed to discourage birds. I did purchase a roll but I have not used it yet.
Is it a big area? If not, you can use netting over it to keep birds off. I did that a couple of years ago when doing my new lawn in the back garden. You just have to make sure it's fairly tight.
It's easier if you can sow a bit later on in the year, as birds are less interested, but sowing a bit more heavily helps too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thanks for the replies. Food for thought.