[8doubles]

Once plants grow past  the seedling stage sparrows (in my experiance) do not do too much damage to salad crops and beetroot.
I would net them at first then remove.
This all depends on the size of the sparrow colony , if you are feeding 100 plus Bob and his wife you may need better defences.

[Pony Girl]

Thank you - I hope the seedlings survive their attack but I'll sow some more anyway. Am hoping that Bob and the gang will stick to the bird feeders. 

Has anyone tried the cotton thread trick to any effect to ward off birds?

[Salmo]

You do use too many pellets. If you must use them you only need 1 or 2 per module to be effective. You applied these without proof of slug damage, which is naughty.

Your damage is definatley birds. The leaves are clipped, if you look closely you will probably see V beak shaped bruising. Probably sparrows or finches. Sparrows are real vandals. They will leave them alone when the crop gets bigger. This sort of damage is worse in a dry period.

[Beetroot Queen]

I use lots of slug pellets but in fairness they are a nightmare to sprinkle. I try not to handle them when florence is with me so I use the bottle to sprinkle.

I try to use minimal but its difficult, mine look like yours ( tbh)  but I would rather use pellets and have a crop than have no crops and happy slugs.

 

[8doubles]

The thing about using too many slug pellets is you draw in slugs from elsewhere ,  the smell (slugs nose?) may even draw them from your neighbours property !

[Pony Girl]

The thing about using too many slug pellets is you draw in slugs from elsewhere ,  the smell (slugs nose?) may even draw them from your neighbours property !

Eeek! Definitely don't want that, got enough of the wee beasts here as it is. They've already eaten most of my daffodils this year. Thanks for the tip about quantity, I will bear that in mind though like Beetroot Queen says it can be quite hard to sprinkle accurately.

[azubah]

I tip a few slug pellets into the lid and fling them up in the air to scatter them as thinly as possible. It means I don't have to touch them and save waste and pollution.

[diospyros]

The thing about using too many slug pellets is you draw in slugs from elsewhere ,  the smell (slugs nose?) may even draw them from your neighbours property !

I am glad to read this as I had read about using too many but with no plausible explanation.  Having been told recently by someone that his cabbages failed because he "didn't use enough pellets" I was sceptical but couldn't say anything.