Wisteria Buds.....continued

I've placed a net over the Wisteria, to keep the birds off - assuming the culprits eating the buds are birds.  I bought several lengths of net and slung them over each side of the Wisteria, to fully enclose it.  I tried setting in short lengths of wood, as spacers to keep the net wider than the width of the Wisteria, but they all fell out and so now I'm hoping that just having the net will work.

Net over the Wisteria, to protect from birds.

I guess we'll soon know, because the new buds coming in, will either mature into flowers or be stripped again.  If the buds continue to be stripped, then my next guess is that the culprits could be snails and/or slugs. We have giant slugs at our place.

I've also placed a net over the Greengage Plum Tree. The tree is still young and won't bear a good lot of fruit for a few years, nevertheless, it would be nice to enjoy some plums.  Unfortunately last year (the tree's first year) the tiny emerging plums disappeared quickly from the tree and we had no plums at all   My guess at culprits was birds, so this year I'm ready.  Fingers crossed that works too. 

Net over Greengage Plum Tree.

Speaking of birds (and these are not culprits of any particular mischief, other than being amusing to watch as they go about their antics) I took this shot this morning.   These are our Ring Neck Doves (real name, Barbary Doves,  while in England they call them Collar Doves).  When it rains, the doves sit upright and maintain a stiff pose for as long as the rain lasts.  We see them standing upright along the fence railing, or overhead power lines, on the bird perches we provide for them in our garden or, as this shows, they use our shade sail.  Yes they do get sopping wet and preen their feathers like crazy, once the rain stops.

3 wet doves, standing upright in the rain.

 

Our Bottle Brush Tree makes a great rain perch.

Spring is happening at a fast rate, in our little corner of New Zealand.   Daylight Saving started on Sunday, so we're back to dark early mornings for a short while. On the other hand we'll now enjoy longer, lighter evenings (yay) which will give us time to play outside when we get home from work.