Leicestershire,
United Kingdom 
does anybody have trouble with sparrows eating the flowers on runner beans?
i have grrown white lady this year as they are supposed to be bird proof!
i doubt it.
they have even ravaged my carrot seedlings.
am i the only person who hates birds???
30 May, 2012
The birds are after the little black insects that come on the flowers. Spray the Runner Beans with thin solution of one teaspoon of Dettol to one litre of clean water. late evening.
Birds can smell and they dont like Dettol. Bees and insects do, so they will pollinate your Beans. Should get a crop 3 weeks earlier.
I have tried having a Lemon Balm Plant in a trough by my Runner Bean area for a couple of years, and this seems to keep the insects away.
3 Jun, 2012