More about birds......

Some information on netting your tree 

If you have a problem with birds on your fruit tree, you may have tried some of the solutions in the previous post. The plastic animals, scarecrows, wind chimes, and highly reflective tape can do the job, particularly with smaller, more timid birds. The problem is, we don't want to scare all birds completely out of our yards, we just want to keep them off the fruit tree.

The birds get braver
The other thing is, birds have a natural tendency to get bolder as time goes by. While at first a scarecrow or plastic owl may be enough to keep the little peckers cowering away, unless you change up your scaring strategy fairly often, you'll look out one day and see them sitting on your scarecrow's shoulder. And having a delicious breakfast of cherrys. Or maybe it's peaches. Apples? Whatever fruit is on your tree, there will be  a bird who is partial to it. Those feathered little fiends! It's not that you don't love birds, you do, but when they're tucking into your lovingly-grown fruit, it's hard to feel charitable towards them.

Try some bird netting
Many gardening stores market a particular type of bird netting. You can buy it by the yard or the meter and it's basically a giant net that you can throw over the entire tree. The holes are about one half of an inch wide. or 1.3 cms. It can be quite a nuisance to install, but it should definitely keep the little birdies off your tree.

The problem with bird netting
One problem with this type of netting is if you have quite small birds in your area, you may find they can actually become caught in the netting and become very distressed and even choke themselves. No one wants to see birds caught in their tree netting when they go and check on their beloved fruit crop.
Another problem is if you have larger birds, or very bold birds, they can land on the netting, which presses the netting to the tree and may allow the bird access to it through the netting

Apple tree with bird netting.

Photo credit Andrew Wiggins

Something else you may consider using though, is a fabric called 'tulle'. It is very fine netting with holes too small for any bird to fit its beak or head into. It is easy to source, any fabric or crafting shop should sell it and it's relatively cheap. Buying enough to cover one tree will probably end up costing less than half of what it cost for the actual bird netting. Birds landing on it will not be able to access the fruit through the net.

It is harder to put in place than the bird netting though and you may need to get creative with a needle and sew a few bits together to make a larger piece. But the netting is so fine, no birds can get caught in it. It will, however, keep bees out too, which you don't want, so leave the netting open at the bottom. Tulle is a much  cheaper alternative to bird netting, and safer for the little wee guys. It may not be practical if you have a very large tree or several that need netting though, so ask at your local garden center if they have any other alternatives when it comes to the size of the holes in the bird netting.

Maybe you could plant two fruit trees, one for yourself and one for the birds?