By Sally Gregson.

After such a dry summer when every bird and small mammal seemed intent on eating anything juicy, be it strawberries, raspberries or currants, fruit bushes were all stripped bare long before they were picked.
If there is space in the garden for a fruit cage, now is the time to build it, ready to thwart next season’s marauders.
Cages can be bought at the garden centre, but it’s much cheaper, and easy to construct a substantial fruit-cage with treated timber and fine-grade wire mesh. Off-the-peg cages all have to be put together anyway, so why not tailor-make your own to fit your garden.

Order treated timber cut to size that is guaranteed for ten years. Or cut it to size yourself and treat the cut ends. You can save a lot of work and money if the cage is the same size as the lengths of ready-cut timber, but the site may not allow for such pragmatism.
On the ground, mark the positions of the posts with spray paint, measuring carefully to ensure the cage is square. It is far easier and quicker not to have to adjust lengths of timber and wire-mesh to fit later.

It is recommended to set the upright posts in concrete, leaving two-thirds of the length above ground for stability, and burying the post by a third. That is a 3m post would need to be set at least 1m in the ground, leaving 2m as the finished height, or thereabouts.

Attach the cross bars to the uprights, making a frame, then fix the cross bars over the top. Make a doorway with two more posts and a cross-bar. And make the door with battens and fine mesh. Fix it in place with two hinges and a simple hook-and-eye fastening.

When the framework is complete, use the finest galvanised mesh available. Birds are good at squeezing themselves through tiny holes if the prize, that is your crop of raspberries, is sufficiently delicious. Plastic mesh is not rigid enough to resist snowfall. It will collapse in a heavy dump of snow and may bring down some of the hard-worked timber structure in its wake.
Once the framework and door are complete, walk around the cage with a critical eye for gaps, especially where the cage meets the ground. If there is the smallest gap, raiders will get in and feast on the berries. And they can dig out any loose soil before you get up in the morning.