This one junk item will keep magpies and pigeons out of your garden
It's that time of the year when gardeners are starting to plant flowers and crops, making gardens the perfect spot for birds.
Magpies and pigeons in particular love to eat freshly planted seeds, causing mayhem to gardeners. Not only does it make a mess with them digging up your flower beds and leaving dropping, but it also costs money.
Keen gardener and founder of Garden Desk, Marc, has now shared a hack to keep the animals away from your lawn. To stop them being pests, Marc says hanging a shiny object such as a CD or DVD will deter them.
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He said: “In the past, I have had problems with all kinds of animals eating the garden. Last year, my ultimate garden nemesis was the Blue Jay!
“Blue Jays ate all of our corn seedlings and then started on our apples. I was able to scare them away from the apple trees with shiny silver CDs.
“CDs are the modern-day equivalent to pie pans. My Grandpa used to save tin or aluminium pie plates all year long to use as scarecrows. Today, it is easier to get shiny CDs or DVDs.”
It may seem strange, but CDs and DVDs reflect light to produce sudden bright flashes, and the sudden movements will make birds believe danger, such as a predator, is nearby, reports the Express.
Discs will swing in the wind, and the movement, combined with the flashes, will make the object seem alive, and birds will believe it is a threat.
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You can use CDs and DVDs to naturally chase away birds by threading the string through the centre hole, tying it with a knot and then hanging it where the birds are most active.
If you do not have any old discs lying around, then save the tin foil dish the next time you buy a steak pie, and it will work just as well.
It should be noted that birds are clever creatures and can eventually figure out that the shiny object is not a threat, so it is best to move the discs about every few weeks.
The best way to deter birds naturally is to combine other deterrents together to scare them away such as using scarecrows, pinwheels, yellow flowers, and some people even use honey to keep them off the roof.
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