Unexpected Garden Visitor

[Daisy]

Zizi - it's amazing how much 'wild life' inhabits our gardens, isn't it! I must admit green parakeets aren't a problem here though!

When we had little Rusty and Clyde I used to worry about foxes in the garden - Clyde was stalked by one one night! and also owls which have been known to take small dogs. I don't think Eva is in as much danger as they were, thank goodness!! We also get deer roaming round and snakes - grass and adder - in the compost bins. When we first lived here someone thought it was jolly good fun to leave the Forest gate open and we'd get ponies, donkeys and cattle wandering into the front garden. We've got cattle grids at each end of the road, but the footpaths lead onto open Forest with gates to keep the livestock out.

Mind you any more rain and I shall be calling on Qwerty's beavers to dam up the rivers!!

[Qwerty]

Well blow me down there is difference Gem , ones got longer teeth

[Daisy]

Qwerty - and the other one will turn out of its bed at night for peanuts!

[Daisy]

After the excitement of Mr Brock yesterday there was a commotion on the bird table which is just by our dining room window. I peeped round to find a squirrel sitting with his back to the wall and 4 or 5 jackdaws trying to 'land'. Then a pigeon arrived flapping away as they do. The jackdaws flew off making a lot of noise, but the pigeon and squirrel proceeded to clear all the seeds off the table like a couple of old friends having an iced bun together!

[Grauntie Mag]

We have a pigeon and jackdaw who seem to be best mates in this garden. They sit on the fence next to each other quite companionable.

[Daisy]

Grauntie - I would be very happy if the jackdaws never came back to our garden. One arrives and then calls to all its mates, who come flocking in, frightening the little birds of the feeders, eating everything in sight and generally being ill-mannered. But even I felt sorry for them during the cold weather - they must have been hungry like all the other birds - I seemed to be buying seed every other day and OH was complaining that they were better fed than him or the dog!

[Plantaholic]

I haven't mentioned this before but I have had to stop feeding the birds as we saw a. rat helping themselves to the food so I called the council and they sent a pest controller to put down bait boxes. We think they were living in the garden compost or shed of the garden backing onto us. The house has been empty since the aged occupant died and apparently they have bats in the loft that cannot be removed unless another home is found for them. A young couple are now renovating the house and when I told him about the rats, he probably thought what now. They have baited the boxes twice and are due to come back next week. I have moved some of the feeders to the back hoping the rats are dead now, they give me the shivers.

[Daisy]

Plant - I agree. I can cope with most wildlife, but rats - definitely not!

[Daisy]

We've had yet another unexpected visitor to our garden - or possibly a new resident!

Eva, the wildlife watcher, found a hedgehog last night. She didn't touch it (thank goodness!) and walked away when OH called her. We used to have a good hedgehog population when we first moved to this house just over 20 years ago, but when Rusty and Clyde were puppies they were forever digging under the fences and escaping into other people's gardens. So we dug down and put concrete blocks underneath the fence panels, but I suppose the hedgehogs could no longer get in or out. That was about 16/17 years ago, and now some of the fence panels have been replaced and there are gaps all over the place, so it looks as though we're back on the hedgehog road map. If so, I'm really pleased because hedgehogs are losing habitats all over the country and the population has halved in about 20 years. If we can do our bit to encourage them, I'll be happy.

They're just coming out of hibernation and looking for mates, and need small gaps (5 or 6") in fences and walls so they can go from garden to garden to find their soulmate as well as food. They also need shallow bowls of water and will gobble up bugs etc from your garden. Failing that they'll settle for wet cat or dog food (the sort that comes in small pouches).

[Plantaholic]

Although our garden is quite open for hedgehogs we have never seen one in all the years we have been here, perhaps it is too open.

[Daisy]

What a pity, Plant. I suppose they need safe places to sleep during the day. I wonder if your neighbours see any?

When we first saw them in our current garden, they used to come to the dog bowl of water we always keep in the garden. Then Ben, the border collie we had then, found one and tried to play ball with it - he got a very badly prickled nose though which took months and lots of treatment to heal up - that's partly why I was so glad Eva left last night's visitor alone.