>I won't be popular, but as far as I am concerned that's great, Between Robins and Starlings and Blackbirds, we lose around 1/2 our berry crops, and no netting 6 acres is not an option, and propane cannons next to town is not either. Bird pest populations have exploded in the last decades. Hi Charles Some might consider you lucky, but although my scale is much smaller, our recent move to a more rural location has seen the house attacked by woodpeckers, rabbits and deer eating everything including blueberries (last thing that rabbit did before becoming pie material), fig trees and (would you believe it?) horseradish plants! Blackbirds and magpies (!) ate all the cherries, and something unseen ate the redcurrants when we were not looking. Copious wire netting and a fruit cage has at least saved the raspberries, but I will soon have to figure how to protect the greengages and apples. At the same time, wasp numbers are now increasing and we will soon have to do battle with them to save honey and precious colonies, especially nucs, from being robbed out. Any minute now we expect Asian hornets... Best wishes Peter 52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html