Usual culprit scatters the seed

I HAVE TO protect the seed beds in my vegetable garden with hoops of plastic water pipe covered in netting. This is to try to keep blackbirds out.

The blackbirds are very persistent and will find the smallest hole in the netting and squeeze in through it.

When they get inside they scratch around in the finely raked soil looking for small worms and other tasty morsels. They’re not interested in the seeds because at this time of year they’re almost entirely carnivorous. But the vigorous scratching scatters the seeds out of the neat rows they’re sown in and leaves them to dry out in the sun.