//Her sister mentioned a plastic hawk from Bunnings//

//no problems since buying an "owl" from our local National
Geographic shop.//

Alternatively, why not get a real hawk and teach yourself the ancient skill of falconry? There are plenty of native raptors which I'm sure would be suitable for the task, and I imagine you're the sort of chap that would get a thrill from watching a larger, more powerful bird preying on smaller, weaker ones.

Tony do try to find the "tropical" varieties if peaches & apricots that are sold up here. Beaudesert Mitre 10 carries them, & along with tropical apples are very good fruiters of tasty fruit, if you can be bothered to keep the birds & fruit fly off.

Glad the bird scarers are working for some. A few of us have tried then them & scare crows but the birds just use them to perch on.

I had a similar problem out at the the Reef, in the Whitsundays, with an outer reef instillation. We had a 60Ft imitation sub coral viewing vessel, & a large pontoon with shade & lunch facilities to tie the big cat to. The gannets soon discovered this perfect overnight roosting place. They could deposit an inch of guano overnight, which took a fair while to remove with a 2" fire hose. The stink was so bad you could not take tourists to the thing before it was cleaned.

When I installed an electronic bird scarer it attracted the birds off the sub, moored a hundred yards away, & they roosted on it's box by preference. They could drop 6" on it, & it's immediate surrounds in 3 days, when bad weather kept us in port.

I ended up having to install living quarters & keep a skipper & his girl friend out there to keep the birds off. This proved cheaper than flying someone out there by Air Whitsunday sea plane each morning to clean the thing, at $350 a flight.

G'day there HASBEEN...

Try as you may, I would've thought it's pretty hard to defeat birds and insects, while at the same time, trying to cultivate an orchard in your home paddock. A simple instance of either the birds or the orchard, but not both.

Being a solid devotee and stalwart of John GOULD all those years ago, wouldn't it be better and more achievable to continue feeding them, as my wife and I continue to do so. By allowing them to return once more to your home paddock, for a decent feed. Thereby permitting you and yours, to re-establish your former convival relationship with your friendly fruiterer once again.

Hi STEELEREDUX, I had a colleague who on retirement, took his family down to Melbourne somewhere in South Vermont, wherever that is? Your good Wife's mastery in nurturing a good fig tree is laudable indeed. Figs apparently are loaded with all manner of excellent nutritional 'wherewithal' to keep us healthy. And the trees themselves grow to a goodly height and age as well I believe?

There again I'm most certainly not sciolistic in matters of horticulture neither. Nor do I possess 'green-fingers'.

Toni Lavis,

You can grow a Peachcot if you have a position with long daily sun. Very tasty apricot flavour.

Self pollinating, resistant to some common problems and can be pruned for a small space. Do not over-care. Just a good mulch annually in Spring and some complete fertiliser.

You could try it in a large tub.

I don't miss the cold but I sure miss the 'in the present' mindfulness encouraged by the passing of the seasons and the required chores (rituals almost) of tending fruit and garden flowers. It was a never ending job.

Warmer zones are different. Still, I have my interest in growing flowering plants for butterflies and English and Native bees. That also encourages the best bird behaviours in a garden.

ATM there is a Currawong rolling over and over, playing its daily game with pieces of curled seed husk.

My mother went outside one morning to find a flying fox trapped in the net she has used to protect her fruit.

She called the wildlife rescue people and when this lady arrived she threatened my mum with an $80,000 fine for trapping a protected species. Of cause I told mum to call me next time, but this just goes to show how mad we have become as a society, wasting so much time on the likes of these pests, while ignoring the likes of homeless kids.

So my point is, be careful how you go about protecting your fruit trees.