Help - Blackbird has declared war on my pots

[Blackbirddeclaredwar]

Help please gardening experts.

It seems that a Blackbird has declared war on my beautiful Pot garden and I have no idea what to do.

It all started with my favourite Peony. She dug it out, I put it back, topped with stones and she dug it out again. This has been going on for weeks.

Tonight I have gone out to find all my Alpines ripped out of their bowls, another Peony bowl torn apart and a Geum. To make it worse I now have mounds of soil all over the gravel.

Can anyone help me understand why she is doing this (it is a female I saw her hiding behind a pot earlier in the afternoon) and what I can do to persuade her to stop.

I only have pots in the garden, which is otherwise gravel laid on an old cement base. I have put down water in case she is thirsty and attempting to get at the watering nozzles. I can’t put down food because my neighbour has chickens which attract rats.

I don’t want to hurt or scare her, just understand why she is doing this and persuade her to stop.

Could your pots be infested with grubs that are starting to emerge?

I'd guess she'd hungry and digging up your pots for grubs and worms.

Can you offer her easier food? Sprinkle some mealworms or put a feeder out? My mum's got very persistent blackbirds who wait in her garden to be fed.

Can you put out food in the morning and take it in at night?

wrong time of year for mud to line nest which was my other thought (and I can’t remember whether that’s blackbirds or thrushes)

Thank you all

@smallchange I have dug through and cant see any obvious grubs. There is also a large pot I have just emptied. She totally ignores that. It is almost like she is wanting to rip the plants out. The Alpines have been totally destroyed.

@Babamamananarama @MereDintofPandiculation I am thinking about how to feed her without risking rats. Will be visiting the garden centre today to look at feeders.

Then I will have to work out how to clean the gravel she has covered in soil. Such a mess.

A.t.m I have filled the pots she is targeting with little wooden stakes, hoping that will deter her from landing.

I've never had this problem until this year.
I'm thinking it's related to some batches of peat free compost for some reason.

I agree @ErrolTheDragon this is the first year I have ever experienced the problem despite having a pot garden for 7 years.

I also suspect it's because more gardens are getting concreted or fake lawned over coupled with office sheds and new homes so there is more competition/less food around too. A perfect storm type thing.

Blackbirds are ground feeders so getting a feeder placed in a tree isn't any good but some mealworms and chopped apples or pears will be demolished rapidly. I believe they also like small bits of leftover cheese or raisins but I've never tried with mine - they just get apples/pears. If you put it on an old plate or that plantpot saucer thing you can easily remove it at night.

Do you have any water out in a large size? They LOVE baths. Deep and wide.
https://www.diy.com/departments/nurgul-dark-grey-saucer-dia-30-5cm/1902135_BQ.prd

It's the birds!!

Okay, I'll be serious for a moment. I agree with putting a bit of food out. Mealworms are great for birds, and unlike seeds they won't spread, any leftovers can be swept up so you shouldn't attract rats or mice.
Also double check it's not a squirrel digging your plants up, as moving stones is quite a bit of work for a blackbird, although they can use stones as tools for getting tasty snails.
Leather jackets (daddy longlegs/ crane fly) larva are emerging at the moment, they are a high protein food for birds, there numbers have been declining over the years, so as previously mentioned the competition for food is greater (If you live in an area where people are using fake grass there will be even more competition for food) If your garden is big enough can you have a 'wild patch', you only need a square meter, of grasses and native plants to really help wildlife, and the blackbird can forage happily without disturbing your pots (I say 'only' but appreciate that can be a big chunk of garden for a city or town garden).
Peony's are beautiful so I can completely understand your frustration!
Peat free compost, especially the stuff which incorporates manure, can contain all sorts of delectable grubs for birds, and although it's meant to be sterilised before being bagged, I don't think the processes are always very robust...I've had some quite interesting brassicas plants grow, which I know I haven't planted! Alternatively you can put 'chicken' wire over your pot(s) just make sure you cut a hole big enough for your plant(s), it will prevent the blackbird from being able to dig your plants out.

Are you sure it's the blackbird doing this? Sounds much more like squirrel behaviour...

I was blaming squirrels, we've definitely had them planting acorns (and a couple of times whole fatballs, the neighbour leaves them on her lawn) in pots and also the lawn. But they didn't chuck compost out all over the place or leave big holes. And then I observed a female blackbird in the act.

Wow, @ErrolTheDragon, you have some aggressive blackbirds!! Ours just eat the apples I put out for them and wander round the lawn tossing fallen leaves aside to look for grubs.

Definitely a Blackbird (I have seen her) and checking with a neighbour today she is terrorising them too.

I have put water down for her as I thought at first she was trying to get to the watering nozzles.

My garden is frustrating. I love gardening but the Builder left a pre-existing concrete pad in place over the whole back garden and just gravelled over the top. When I bought the house I merrily started to dig the gravel out just to hit concrete. The quotes to remove it all are astronomic. So I have no lawn and no borders, just a myriad of pots.

I don’t want to attract Rats so will start with chopped apple tomorrow. My only concern is that feeding her might prove an encouragement and I really want her to stop digging !!

I am thinking about how to feed her without risking rats. Main thing is not yo leave feed out overnight and to clear up spills.

Rats do eat fruit.

I wonder if she is from this years brood and has been ousted to the (sorry OP) crap gardens that offer little in the way of natural food. Blackbirds are reasonably territorial and she might have drawn the short straw. Hopefully she will figure out that there might be better places to forage soon enough.

We have farmland behind us, and the neighbour who leaves food on her lawn...unfortunately rats hereabouts are liable to be around in the daytime.

@Pixiedust1234 you may be onto something here. The parent blackbirds nested in one of my tall hedges this year, but I think she is hanging out in a hedge on the other boundary.

My neighbour says she is digging underneath their Christmas tree and making a terrible mess. Apparently she is frenetic when they are watching her.

I am going to buy some cobbles tomorrow and place them on the top of the pots above the gravel. I am hoping they may be too heavy for her to lift and may dissuade her. It wont work on the Alpine pots but they are wrecked anyway.

Poor ousted blackbird.

Apparently she is frenetic when they are watching her.
If she is from this year and recently kicked out she could be slowly starving to death. The parents won't be feeding her or teaching her where to go which is why she's digging up in all the wrong places. Perhaps feed her up so she is strong enough to fly off and search in better areas. A win for all.

Ok @Pixiedust1234

You have persuaded me. I will add a dish of meal worms to the apple tomorrow