Blackberries (1 Viewer)

[John P]

I usually munch a few (only from the tops of the bushes though ) as I wander around and have wondered at times if I'm doing any birds out of a meal.

Up to now I've only seen Starlings eating them but today a juvenile Stonechat was having a good munch on some, I'm certain they were eating the berries and not taking insects from them.

Do any other birds (or birders) eat Blackberries?

 

[Gregory Sargean]

I'm not sue which birds have a fondness for blackberries but I was in a preserve in Maine a few weeks back and could not resist the temptation to munch down a few handfuls.

 

[KnockerNorton]

John P, what if the air you breathe is robbing them of oxygen?! Relax, eh? While most land birds love brambles (from pheasants to warblers), not to mention most mammals (badgers to voles) there are more than enough to go round.

 

[tom24]

Ther's more than enough to go round.I picked a few pounds a few weeks ago to make bramble jelly.A blackcap was feeding on them too.Many other spp. do eat them and the resultant guano is a lot more difficult to wash off fabrics.

 

[Mary]

I've experimented with drying some (and elderberries) this year to see if they are taken on the birdtable!

 

[KnockerNorton]

freezing would be a better idea. If you have the space.

 

[delia todd]

I tried freezing rowan berries but the birds weren't interested in them at all. I tried them loose and in a fat ball.

D

 

[Nina P]

I find the Blackbirds and Thrushes are rather partial too, but as previously stated, the purple guano is extremely difficult to clean off the bird table, patio, washing and anything else it lands upon! They also like Blackcurrants, grapes, strawberries, redcurrants and crab apples!
I was watching the first year stonechats on the headland last Saturday doing just the same thing, and they were only inches away!

 

[John P]

John P, what if the air you breathe is robbing them of oxygen?! Relax, eh?

Fear not, I'm perfectly happy being at the top of the food chain.


Nina, I've not had a redcurrant for years, despite having a bush in my garden the thrushes always beat me to it, they seem to strip it in a day just before I net it every year.

 

[alan_rymer]

I usually munch a few (only from the tops of the bushes though ) as I wander around and have wondered at times if I'm doing any birds out of a meal.

Up to now I've only seen Starlings eating them but today a juvenile Stonechat was having a good munch on some, I'm certain they were eating the berries and not taking insects from them.

Do any other birds (or birders) eat Blackberries?

Taken 3rd Sept and the far end of Pembrokeshire. Look at the bill colour!.

 

[buckskin hawk]

My pasture is backed by a fallow pasture that is covered with blackberries. They are so thick that you can't ride or walk through it. We have a wonderful collection of finches, buntings, dicissels and sparrows just to name a few that are happy campers in July when they are ripe. Whether it is feeding on the bugs that seems to love them or the berries themselves, blackberries are great for the birds. They also make a great cover.

 

[KnockerNorton]

A lot of finches and tits/chickadees actually feed on the pips inside the berries, not the berry pulp itself.

 

[Nina P]

Nina, I've not had a redcurrant for years, despite having a bush in my garden the thrushes always beat me to it, they seem to strip it in a day just before I net it every year.[/QUOTE]

DO you get any of the Gooseberries either? I don't get any of them, the plums tend to go the same way too! I wish I could net them but I just cant reach, and the last time I netted anything I got heartbroken as a thrush somehow managed to get entangled despite pegging it down to prevent it happening, so now I have to see the bird attacking and go out and say " Play fair, I fed you all the best food, how about leaving me some!" Last time I did that they actually did! I was shocked, I wouldn't have thought they would understand let alone obey!

 

[John P]

Hi Nina, yes, I do get plenty of Gooseberries but have to fight the wasps for the plums.

It just seems to be the Redcurrants and the Tayberries that the birds go for in my garden, the blackbirds and thrushes also eat windfall apples that we put aside and store through the winter for them.

 

[Richard Bryce]

I've inherited brambles in my back garden, cultivated ones I presume because the berries are plump, juicy and sweet when ripe. Over the years I've let them expand considerably and manage to get a handful of berries most mornings. The birds seem to get bucketfulls.

 

[Bird Faery]

I usually munch a few (only from the tops of the bushes though ) as I wander around and have wondered at times if I'm doing any birds out of a meal.

Up to now I've only seen Starlings eating them but today a juvenile Stonechat was having a good munch on some, I'm certain they were eating the berries and not taking insects from them.

Do any other birds (or birders) eat Blackberries?

We love blackberries, but they are a pest here in Oz. They are spread by the birds that eat them. The Rosellas tend to eat them, and then in a place where they evacuate and the seed is left there on the ground in the most fertile kind of seed raising mix.

Emus are the same. They eat the blackberries and it runs through them, and there again the seeds find themselves in a high nutrient seed raising mix. Some of the old farmers used to shoot Emus, because they said that wherever and Emu evacuates, a blackberry or sweet briar grows. Which was fairly right, but they were not the only bird that feasted on this plant import.

Tough we pick blackberries by the bucketful, we never deprive the birds, and on the lower canes the fox feeds on the fruit.

 

[tiomet]

well this prompted me to buy some raspberry and blackberry canes and plant them. I had not realised that this was a good time to plant and had put this on the backboiler for next spring... what a good thing this topic came up and caused me to research!