have you bean (pun) given them enough water. the flowers, will drop off if not, spray the whole plants late in the evening, this will help the flowers to set

We have seen sparrows nibbling at the flowers on ours.

The sparrows are a nusiance on my beans every year but eventually they leave the flowers alone and the beans can develop. Try hanging some old cds or windmills etc to keep them at bay. I feed the birds all the year round and this is how they repay me!!

Like Pennyfarthin we feed the birds and have plenty of sparrows nesting in the barns. I'll certainly try hanging out some CDs. We do water daily but I take the point about the possibility that the flowers develop but do not set. If CDs and windmills don't work I'll let nature run its course and hope for a good crop in spite of everything.

Thank you all for your interest. Very helpful.

Trevowen

I am tremendously impressed by the number and quality of replies I have received. Never used a site like this before but my thanks to everyone for such good practical ideas which I shall put into practice this year and in the future. Trev Owen