[eliop]

I have flea beetle that's munching on the leaves, but I also see sparrows pecking at the flowers...I think?

But on close inspection, I'm not sure if the sparrows are eating the flowers, or if theyre eating the flea beetle.

I realize this might be a dumb question - I'm almost certain it's the flowers the sparrows are eating, so netted the broad beans plants. I'm now wondering if the sparrows are actually eating the beetles and whether it would be best to remove the netting.

 

[eliop]

....turns out: bean weevil, not flea beetle.
also, tuurns out sparrows eat bean weevil, but take some of the plant with it as they peck.
Caught them doing it!

[heygrow]

What do Bean Weevils or bean weevil damge look like?

[New shoot]

What do Bean Weevils or bean weevil damge look like?

The damage is little notches all round the edges of the leaves.  Plants usually grow through it and still crop.  You don't tend to see the weevils unless you save seeds and some hatch out.  I usually keep my seeds in a lidded plastic tub just in case. 

[eliop]

The damage is little notches all round the edges of the leaves.  Plants usually grow through it and still crop.  You don't tend to see the weevils unless you save seeds and some hatch out.  I usually keep my seeds in a lidded plastic tub just in case.

I had some seeds from the store - bought last autumn. I wonder how I got them/if they we're already in the seed...

[New shoot]

I had some seeds from the store - bought last autumn. I wonder how I got them/if they we're already in the seed...

I would be surprised if they came from shop bought seed tbh.  I think you would find dead ones in the pack and holes in the seeds. 

I grow Wizard beans and save the seeds each year.  If you let beans dry to be a seed crop on the plants, they always seem to have a few weevils in them.  They always hatch out well before I come around to sow them again that October.  Even though I chuck any damaged seeds so I know I am sowing clean ones, the weevils still arrive from somewhere.

I usually grow other beans for drying, but they are summer crops that I harvest in autumn.  I have never had weevils in them for some reason.  They must be out of sync with the lifecycle of the weevils.