Bloody Magpies!

[puppydogmummy]

Flipping birds constantly digging up my pots! Back garden completely paved over so I grow everything in pots but the birds are such vandals testing out plants so they can poke about with their bloody beaks! Any suggestions to how I can deter them?

[Ferguson]

The only thing I can think of is to maybe have OTHER pots of things that might be more tempting to them - though I don't know what that might be.

[shovetheholly]

I have success against both birds and cats with satay sticks (or any other fairly sharp, short pieces of wood). Stick them into the pots, and they can't land as easily, or pull stuff about.

Putting a layer of horticultural grit on top of pots will sometimes also help to deter them.

[yankeecandle4]

Please do not use satay/kebab sticks or anything else that could seriously injure an animal. I'm not a mad animal lover myself but really would not want to cause any physical harm.

I would try something that flaps around so that hopefully it would repel the birds. Something like a small flag, or anything that moves. The pound shops sell that sort of thing.

[shovetheholly]

yankee - they don't land on them! Magpies have incredible eyesight. They see the sticks and are put off from going anywhere near the pots. (It's the spacing, not the sharpness that does it - I actually tend to use bits of twig that I've pruned off things - they work just as well).

Same thing works for cats pooing in newly sown beds. (And I have a cat myself whom I'd never injure. He takes one look at the sticks and slopes off to find a better place).

[yankeecandle4]

I was thinking more about the cats. I was on a forum where someone suggested kebab sticks and a vet or veterinary nurse replied saying that they were very hazardous and can cause injury to cats in particular.

[puppydogmummy]

Have bought toy windmills from pound shop lol my pots look like telly tubby land

[shovetheholly]

yankee - in that case, I stand corrected! Maybe use blunt-ended sticks instead, OP.