Does anyone have any good tips for persuading blackbirds not to throw bark
mulch over the lawn when foraging in the borders?
With a large garden and a lot of formal beds, the benefits of weed
supression are being offset by the time needed to clear up each day.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Bob Holly

Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs so they should be
commended. Mine are too lazy and just take the "easy to grab" worms from my
lawn.

Paul DS.

"Bob Holly" wrote in message
news:dN0tc.43$NF6.21@newsfe2-win...
Does anyone have any good tips for persuading blackbirds not to throw bark
mulch over the lawn when foraging in the borders?
With a large garden and a lot of formal beds, the benefits of weed
supression are being offset by the time needed to clear up each day.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

The do this with compost mulch and leaves too. It seems to be
inevitable. Next door's cats don't seem to put them off and
neither does my presence in the garden, so I just enjoy standing
and watching the cheeky blighters.
--
Nick Wagg

In article dN0tc.43$NF6.21@newsfe2-win, Bob Holly
writes
Does anyone have any good tips for persuading blackbirds not to throw bark
mulch over the lawn when foraging in the borders?
With a large garden and a lot of formal beds, the benefits of weed
supression are being offset by the time needed to clear up each day.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

They may be making a mess, but they wouldn't be doing it if they weren't
finding food. I think you have to balance the mess against the possibly,
even probably in the case of slugs and snails, harmful critters they are
eating.

--
Malcolm

In article dN0tc.43$NF6.21@newsfe2-win, Bob Holly
writes
Does anyone have any good tips for persuading blackbirds not to throw bark
mulch over the lawn when foraging in the borders?

Nope - unless you can face suspending models of sparrowhawks all over
your garden!!!!!!

With a large garden and a lot of formal beds, the benefits of weed
supression are being offset by the time needed to clear up each day.

Get used to it and be thankful that you have lots of birds in your
garden. Let's face it, it doesn't take long to use a soft brush on the
lawn to sweep the bark mulch back on to the borders, does it? !!!!!

--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.


--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.


--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

In article , Jane Ransom
writes
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.

Hey, why not give blackbirds the credit that is their due?!

They certainly do eat slugs as is confirmed by this quote from the
monograph 'British Thrushes' (Simms 1978): "Slugs stand rather low in
human esteem due to their slimy quality and the damage that some will do
in our gardens. The garden slug (Arion hortensis) breeds throughout most
of the year and is our best known slug, while the netted slug
(Agriolimax reticulatus) is the commonest British slug and when
contracted has a characteristic dome-shaped body. Both species figure in
the diet of mistle thrushes, song thrushes, redwings and blackbirds.
Before eating them or feeding them to their young the adults birds will
generally wipe them on bare earth or on grass to remove the slime. One
individual redwing in my garden spent half a minute doing this and
blackbirds may remain occupied in the task for several minutes at a
time."

--
Malcolm

"Jane Ransom" wrote in message
...
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!

You might want to come and tell the blackbirds in my garden - I have
observed them eating slugs on many occasions :-)

Neil

In article , Malcolm
writes

In article , Jane Ransom
writes
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.

Hey, why not give blackbirds the credit that is their due?!

They certainly do eat slugs

Perhaps you could let the people who compiled the 'cd rom guide to
British birds' and the Readers Digest who compiled the 'book of British
birds' then!!!!!!

I once went through them to see what birds ate slugs.
There were only 7 -

Starling, partridge, corncrake, stone curlew, spotted crake, black
tailed godwit and moorhen.

--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

Jane Ransom wrote:

In article dN0tc.43$NF6.21@newsfe2-win, Bob Holly
writes

Does anyone have any good tips for persuading blackbirds not to throw bark
mulch over the lawn when foraging in the borders?


Nope - unless you can face suspending models of sparrowhawks all over
your garden!!!!!!


With a large garden and a lot of formal beds, the benefits of weed
supression are being offset by the time needed to clear up each day.


Get used to it and be thankful that you have lots of birds in your
garden. Let's face it, it doesn't take long to use a soft brush on the
lawn to sweep the bark mulch back on to the borders, does it? !!!!!

They certainly make a mess on my lawn and drive throwing the bark
chippings about, can't get it all off the lawn, the lawnmower lets me
know what's left! :-( I thought that I would line the edges with lawn
edging, reckon that would work?



--
Please only reply to Newsgroup as emails
to this address are deleted on arrival.

In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.


--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

In article , Jane Ransom
writes
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.

Hey, why not give blackbirds the credit that is their due?!

They certainly do eat slugs as is confirmed by this quote from the
monograph 'British Thrushes' (Simms 1978): "Slugs stand rather low in
human esteem due to their slimy quality and the damage that some will do
in our gardens. The garden slug (Arion hortensis) breeds throughout most
of the year and is our best known slug, while the netted slug
(Agriolimax reticulatus) is the commonest British slug and when
contracted has a characteristic dome-shaped body. Both species figure in
the diet of mistle thrushes, song thrushes, redwings and blackbirds.
Before eating them or feeding them to their young the adults birds will
generally wipe them on bare earth or on grass to remove the slime. One
individual redwing in my garden spent half a minute doing this and
blackbirds may remain occupied in the task for several minutes at a
time."

--
Malcolm

"Jane Ransom" wrote in message
...
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!

You might want to come and tell the blackbirds in my garden - I have
observed them eating slugs on many occasions :-)

Neil

In article , Malcolm
writes

In article , Jane Ransom
writes
In article , Paul
D.Smith writes
Sounds like your blackbirds are searching for slugs

No, no, no - blackbirds do not eat slugs!!
They are just searching for worms and insects.

Hey, why not give blackbirds the credit that is their due?!

They certainly do eat slugs

Perhaps you could let the people who compiled the 'cd rom guide to
British birds' and the Readers Digest who compiled the 'book of British
birds' then!!!!!!

I once went through them to see what birds ate slugs.
There were only 7 -

Starling, partridge, corncrake, stone curlew, spotted crake, black
tailed godwit and moorhen.

--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see