netting of fruit trees

We have to net all our fruit trees when we want to get a single fuit. Some people build big enclosures some net temporarily.
It is not that we would not like to share but the birds don't share with us.
But something feels very wrong with the netting. First it is ugly and you have to restrict tree size. Second it is very labour intensive and expensive.
There is a lot of material in netting.
Obviously birds prefer cultivated fruits to our native fruit (me too).
I wonder of some permie approach to this.
(And no we are not allowed to shoot our wildlife and we are not allowed to have guns anyway.)

Get a bird that is hacking his young. I had one in my backyard last summer and it would attach other birds, squirrels and even cats. You could also create a house for a bird of prey, however you might need a license for that.