Rant

It's quite hard to love some creatures when they destroy our gardens. I don't have a lot of trouble except with snails and slugs. But here's a thing, - I went out yesterday evening and when I came home and put the lights on, there was a great big fat slug sitting in the middle of the living room carpet.
How on earth did it get there?

Allira

Cossy

Sorry, and sorrier that your rant did make me smile!!

For us it’s foxes and squirrels!

They are a menace in our gardens, urban foxes that people feed!

Chris Packham's favourite animals, Cossy! 🦊

He always seems to me to love predators. I began to go off him some years ago when he witnessed - with evident relish - a herring gull picking off so many tiny bats as they emerged one by one from the roof of a shed.

I know it’s Nature, red in tooth and claw, but I don’t like seeing anyone obviously relishing the sight of animals being eaten.

I have a problem with deer and rabbits. There are certain plants they don’t like so my garden is full of those. Maybe you have similar you could try nanna8? They leave my paeonies alone🤞Centaura are mostly ok and they don’t like herbs. All of our vegetables are under cover or we wouldn’t have any. The squirrel is a nuisance too. I do sympathise - if I had a gun I would be seriously tempted.

When we were in New Zealand there were loads of road killed possums so maybe run them over😂 They do mix their fur with wool so maybe you could make a warm coat. Don’t get mad get even!

We know people who feed foxes, is not doing them any favours, tamed foxes lose their ability to hunt effectively, can become obese on the wrong kind of food or fall foul of human beings who will take advantage of their tame nature to do them harm. They are wild animals not pets and do need to be left to get on with their lives in the wild without interference from us no matter how well intentioned.

Just sending sympathy - nature really doesn’t do itself any favours sometimes.

I thought rhubarb leaves were poisonous too but I guess that’s just for humans as ours have been very much enjoyed by the slugs and snails with no ill effects for them as far as I can tell.

Sorry about your garden nanna8. I didn’t know possums were protected so I suppose that means you just have to accept their raids.
Slugs and snails are our main predators here, with the occasional hedgehog or ducks. Our tortoise is the reason all our plants are in pots off the ground. He could strip an herbaceous border in a single morning.

Funny how we all love nature and animals until they come into our backyards!

keepingquiet

Funny how we all love nature and animals until they come into our backyards!

I have never professed to have a generic love of nature and aanimals, I have always been selective.

Grey squirrels, rats, mice in the house and foxes are on my dislike list, along with nettles, bindweed, and brambles in flower beds.

keepingquiet

Funny how we all love nature and animals until they come into our backyards!

Trouble is when nature gets out of balance and there are no natural predators. Deer are lovely creatures but muntjac breed continuously and are getting out of control in the area that I live in, same with roe deer. They not only do a lot of damage to crops and trees but they are a hazard on the road. Grey squirrels are also abundant here also badgers. We have TB in this area and it's heart breaking for farmers losing their cows and the income that they bring. SIL feeds the foxes that come into her London garden, they are glossy and fit generally having 4-6 cubs in a year. I don't approve but I don't say anything.

It was a frost here last night which caused damage - don’t know if my acer will recover

I so agree, Foxie. BUT Muntjac and Roe are edible and delicious; as are grey squirrels (we put some on the BBQ - they taste just like chicken). Many, many years ago (and my memory might be playing tricks) but I think that The Two Fat Ladies said that badger was edible too.

I am sorry, but when I discover that anyone has been feeding urban foxes, I will have a hissy fit. If they could see the decimation in the morning, with dead (but not eaten) chickens all over the yard, they would realise are just killers. By nature.

Beatrix Potter has a lot to answer for!!!!!

foxie48

keepingquiet

Funny how we all love nature and animals until they come into our backyards!

Trouble is when nature gets out of balance and there are no natural predators. Deer are lovely creatures but muntjac breed continuously and are getting out of control in the area that I live in, same with roe deer. They not only do a lot of damage to crops and trees but they are a hazard on the road. Grey squirrels are also abundant here also badgers. We have TB in this area and it's heart breaking for farmers losing their cows and the income that they bring. SIL feeds the foxes that come into her London garden, they are glossy and fit generally having 4-6 cubs in a year. I don't approve but I don't say anything.

Introduced species upset the balance of nature.

Muntjac deer, grey squirrels, Himalayan Balsam and Russian vine, American Bullfrog, Signal crayfish to name but a few.

badgers

The badger population has decreased and it is debatable whether or not badgers cause TB in cattle.
There is a theory that the converse is true.

Allira

badgers

The badger population has decreased and it is debatable whether or not badgers cause TB in cattle.
There is a theory that the converse is true.

Mmmm, tell that to my local farmers. Agree on the imported species though roe is native.

We eat a lot of venison, our neighbour keeps us well supplied as he shoots locally and up in Scotland. I wish there was a bigger market for it, it's extremely healthy and tasty.

Just for the record dalryple23, Mr Todd, the fox in "The Tale of Jimima Puddleduck" by Beatrix Potter, is a bad character and Jimima has to be rescued from him by Kep the sheepdog.

Not that it really matters.

Urban foxes are filthy beasts they tip over rubbish bins and distribute rubbish all over the street, which attracts rats and they defecate everywhere. DD had one regular using a planter by her front door as a latrine. The planter had to go.

Oh no! We have had to deer and rabbit proof the back garden - but nothing can stop the fat grey squirrels that kill the young trees by eating the bark. No fence deters rabbits for long.

My first job of the day is to clear up hedgehog poo and swill down the patio.
My own fault, as I feed 3 ‘hogs that visit every night.

It is pigeons I hate just now.They sit on my roof and ''go to the toilet'' al over my back doorstep.

I love wildlife. I feed foxes. They help keep the rats in check. We’ve taken over most wildlife habitats and polluted the rest. Humans are the filthiest animals of all and the ones that kill for fun, even our own species. If we were wiped out the rest of the animal kingdom wouldn’t miss us.

We have problems with cats, and am not anti cat we have had several cats over the years, but we get cats pooing in our borders in the back garden without trying to cover it, seems todays cats don’t do this, or pooing on the hard standing outside the back door or on the patio, thought it was foxes until we saw a cat doing the dirty deed.
Not sure how to discourage them from using our garden as a toilet, any ideas?

I'd love to meet a possum. Sorry Nanna but they look so adorable.

nightowl Yes, humans are predators, we can hardly criticise other species which kill just to survive!

flappergirl

I'd love to meet a possum. Sorry Nanna but they look so adorable.

They have very scary teeth.

Indigo8

Just for the record dalryple23, Mr Todd, the fox in "The Tale of Jimima Puddleduck" by Beatrix Potter, is a bad character and Jimima has to be rescued from him by Kep the sheepdog.

Not that it really matters.

I was just thinking the same!