The raspberry thieves

[Gemini]

Each summer we have lovely crops of delicious raspberries from our raspberry canes.
This year OH has found several of the branches broken, on more than one occasion.
My suspects were a cat (not ours) jumping down from the fence, or pigeons.

OH set up the wildlife camera overnight, trained on the raspberries. Sure enough, pigeons can be spotted eating the fruit and trying to balance on the delicate stems and snapping them!!
The pests. OH is already none too keen on them as they take a lot of the bird food from the feeders. Now they are even less popular!

[Lizzie48]

Oh dear, they are very annoying here, at the moment they don't come onto my balcony. My neighbour feeds them and he shouldn't do that.

[Daisy]

Gem - I'm sure you've got very healthy, happy pigeons in your garden! When we had the allotment we grew soft fruit in a fruit cage - otherwise we'd never have seen it!

I don't mind the pigeons too much - they're quite good at keeping the magpies and jackdaws away, but your OH is right, they do eat a lot!

[Oma]

Gem we have trouble with them too , we stopped feeding the little birds as they were getting nothing and the pigeons are taking over ,
They throw out the food they don't want and eat everything else ,
You may need netting cages over the raspberries
Thing is they don't seem to be scared of anything

Having said that my neighbour put grass seed down on a patch that had died,
To stop them eating the seed she put a very life like owl ornament next to the patch and they have avoided it

They walk up and down the fence looking at it but haven't tried to get close

[WeeGranny]

We never manage to get cherries off our tree. One day they're green, next day they've gone. I hope the birds enjoy them!

I've been putting out food for the hedgehogs at night and we've got three or four who come each night to eat and drink! The birds finish off what they've left! The other night we had a couple of males fighting over a poor little female. She just curled up into a ball until they'd had enough and gone off leaving her in peace!

[Daisy]

WeeGranny - how lovely to have hedgehogs in your garden, but poor little lady being fought over like that.

We used to have a grape vine and had the same problem. You knew the grapes were perfect when they'd disappeared early one morning!!

Oma - the owl sounds like a good idea.

[Nanto2girls]

We have two owl ornaments on the patio, but they don't stop the pigeons from coming.
Fat things they are as well, the pigeons not the ornaments.

Love when the hedgehogs come visiting. Didn't see any for a couple of weeks, but this past week they have been every night.

[Gemini]

I hope everyone is leaving a bowl of water for the visiting hedgehogs! It can be hard for them to find it in summer.

[Daisy]

We've got 4 bowls of water in our back garden - suitable for birds, hedgehogs etc, and one which is very shallow with stones peeping above the water level for insects.

I'm also still rescuing exhausted bees with sugar syrup on the cocktail stick, used like a dropper just in front if their mouths. It's wonderful to see them revive and buzz off again.

[Nanto2girls]

We always have bowls of water in several places in the garden.
They drink out of the water feature as well.

[Plantaholic]

I wonder if we will see any hedgehogs now we don’t have Milo (missing him very much)

[Nanto2girls]

Its possible Plant.
Only natural to miss Milo.

[Daisy]

Plant - I'm sure you keep looking out for Milo and wondering where he is. You do miss them so much, don't you. xx