I am putting grass seed down tomorrow -any tips?

[Vintagebeads]

Tomorrow we are putting seed to to grass an area in our back garden.
Its south facing so not too worried about light.
But we have an loads of crows/magpies and lots of smaller birds that are always in the garden...how to do we make sure they don't make lunch tomorrow out of my grass seed?
If I cover it will it affect the growing?
Is there a good way of putting it down to ensure its fairly even?
Any advice would be great!

Is the ground level, weed free, raked, trod down, raked again, stone and debris free? To make sure it really is weed free, you can leave it a fortnight, and hoe off/dig out any germinating weeds before actually sowing. Depends on how militant you want to be.

To make the seed dispersal even, I usually mix it well with sand so that I can see where I have seeded, and I water before I sow, sow, and then leave it to dry off a little, and rake again. Then I just leave it. Fill in any gaps after another few weeks.

I just threw some onto bare patches (from under trampoline and slide) a couple of weeks ago and watered it. It started coming through a couple of days.

Thanks for the replies!
We have the ground pressed,two tonnes of top soil down and leveled.
That's where we are up to now.

Is it ok to cover it once sown?I just cant see it even getting a chance to germinate with the nightmare magpies and crows.

I made up some scarecrows with old CDs on strings when I did this recently ...

We've just sown grass, and have git some bean netting held above the ground with tent stakes. Also a string of old CDs above. :)

I never heard of CD's before! Will have to do that.

DH just came in with this really thin fleese you cover young plants with...am worried though that it might be covering too much....

I have spent all day plotting how to defeat the crows must get a life
They are really brazen and don't fly away even if I am out there!

I have just done this - our soil is very compacted so I aerated the lawn first - I used the fiskar weed puller to make holes which was effective and less back breaking than using a fork. I also tried to rake out the moss and dead grass but didn't get it all out. So far the seeds don't seem to be being eaten by birds but nothing much grown yet (did it on Wednesday). The seed is supposed to germinate in 4 days hope it works

on second thoughts, the crows might try to take the CDs with them... they really are cheeky.

Sticks round the area and lace it across with black thread is a standard method.

Keep it well watered.

Just chuck it down,birds might get a few seeds but they won't get all.
Water it and leave it to grow!

Thanks all ..i didnt need to worry too hot for crows

I heard that putting red pepper down with the seed helps to deter birds, is this true?

When putting sand down, does that not cause problems as it is not actually soil? Do you mean loam?

I am mystified about clearing weeds... you see these cardboard packets saying that you sprinkle this over your lawn and it kills moss and weeds, but not grass? How on earth (no pun intended) does that work? How can it tell what is a weed and what is not? Does it also kill that nasty rough grass you get on untended lawns (can't remember what it is called?) And is there any of this weedkiller stuff that is wildlife friendly? (I thought there was, it had a friendly cartoon bee on the packet, but I can't see any in the garden centres now).