My Precious!

Usually I am pretty relaxed about sharing my fruit with the birds, but the Omega plums are different. The richly flavoured fruit with the dark red flesh is my top favourite and the small tree doesn't carry much. The plums ripen first on the side facing the sun and the birds, mainly blackbirds and waxeyes, test for ripeness by pecking at the likely spot. As soon as it is ripe enough they get stuck in and remove the ripe part, and the hole is then claimed by the wasps. Unless I was prepared to eat second-(or third-)hand fruit something had to be done.

Of course I could pick the plums before they ripen and finish them off indoors, but then they would taste like bought fruit. For that wonderfully luscious flavour the plums need to ripen on the tree. What could I do? Then I had the idea of draping the tree with scintillating silver and green tinsel garlands, and hanging up old CDs that spin, flashing light and colour in the slightest breeze.

After five days no new plums have been pecked at and the fruit is ripening beautifully. Still, I'm keeping careful watch. Any day now the birds might discover that all that flashy movement is harmless.