I never thought I would hate a sparrow of all the things!
I also never thought this teeny-weeny creature  could cause so much ‘damage’!
But after a large group of these birds ‘raided’ our garden over the last few days and picked on every newly-sprouted  sapling, I don’t want to ever see another sparrow.
The gardener had warned – don’t feed the birds, they will come and eat all the saplings as they emerge from the ground. Nah, I said, why would they? But, taking his word for it, I stopped putting out the bird feed.
Two days ago, it was virtually a green carpet, with spinach, coriander, lettuce, green chilli and beetroot plants, among others adorning the backyard but yesterday, there were just tiny stems – and today even those have fallen off!
One look at the “I told you so” expression on the gardeners face said it all. I didn’t say anything. “Get a net,” he said. “I will re-plant everything, and more and organise the net. It’s still not too late.”
So, we’ve now got a net. As it awaits the gardeners arrival tomorrow, I can’t but think about the wonders of nature. Even something as tiny as a sparrow could be so “destructive”, though in a very unique way, is beyond imagination. And why did they leave the tomato plant? What about the cucumber? And why have the flowers saplings been left alone? They know taste, they know the looks and they know what they want.
Anyway, the deed’s done. We shall just take precautions henceforth. The net should be in place in less than 24 hours so let’s see what happens then!
But as the gardener said when he left. “In a few days, there will be gardens in bloom all over so the birds will not bother. It’s just the beginning of the season so they are starved off the good stuff.”
I wonder whether that is true.
We shall see.