The other day I found a greenfinch – I think – trapped inside our cabbage netting. I’ve no idea how it got in, the mesh is too small and it’s well-pegged down, but there must have been a gap somewhere. Fortunately I was able to release it easily enough.
Today I came across what appeared to be a sparrow hawk, trapped in a neighbour’s netting, but this had quite large gaps at the bottom, and it was easy to see how it had got in. Again it was no problem to release it.
If I personally have come across five or so cases like this in this one season, then it must be very common on the site.
So this is a general heads up, for everyone to make sure that there aren’t any ways for birds to end up inside our nets. Any unused net should also be bagged – an old carrier bag, anything will do – or boxed, and not left lying around for hedgehogs to become entangled in it.
This said, netting, when used with care, is a far better way to protect our food from the cabbage white butterfly, and from pigeons, than insecticide sprays and bird scarer kites are.
MP
