sparrows stripping bamboo leaves

[jacko]

does anyone else have this problem.i have lots of sparrows around here that are hell bent on stripping the leaves off my black bamboo and vivax(curiously no other species).i've googled it and only found one reference to it,was'nt helpful.some mornings the p.nigra is full of around 30 sparrows all quite happily tearing the leaves off the tops of culms,why do they do this?its annoying and has made a mess of the top of my black bamboo.a friend has suggested using a dummy sparrowhawk in the garden to deter them,i might try this.

[billdango]

sorry to hear about your bamboos jacko ?,luckily i don,t get that problem with mine as sparrows are virtually extinct in this part of southampton.
rgds billdango.

[kata]

Little butters arn't they!"

My small birds usually take my Violas. they do nothing with them just pluck them out the baskets.

Sure, try the scarecrow.

Tell you what may work jacko......computer discs stung up in a line. They will blow in the wind, and maybe they won't like the intense sun shining from them either.

[Petefree]

Not heard of it before, but I guess it's for nesting material, so they shouldn't carry on doing it for too long...

[jacko]

the only thing i've found out is that the new leaf buds on the branches contain a sugar/starch content which sparrows love.