We love them and we hate them
Our 25-year celebration story this month is about birds. That joyful song we regularly hear when we step outside becomes ominous when grapes or olives are ripening. They can decimate a crop. Either by eating the berries or olives (starlings, thrushes and blackbirds), or pecking holes (waxeyes) which allows disease to develop.
When we first started growing grapes, most vineyards were using side nets. Long rolls of netting that we would stretch out either side of the row of vines, covering up the fruit. We were assured that so long as we pulled it tight and clipped it well at the bottom, that our grapes would be safe.