Rant

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!!!

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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! 🦊

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!

Pigeons ate my strawberries, at least the ones the slugs didn't get.
Blackbirds ate the few raspberries we had this year.

Both eat the grapes.

loopyloo

Don't know why gardening is good for mental health. All I do is kill things. Worse than that the first thing I do is clear the corpses that I killed yesterday. Meaning slugs and snails.
And clearing up the poo from foxes hedgehogs and cats.

Not with poison I hope? Especially if you have hedgehogs
which will eat the snails. Hedgehogs are your friends.
I hadn't seen one for a while but was pleased to see some hedgehog poo on the lawn the other day.

I planted winter cabbage plants just a few weeks ago. Diligently putting the frames in position I placed the netting over, checking that every point of entry was closed off.....................and STILL THE BUTTERFLIES GOT IN!

I grow fruit, vegetables, flowers and shrubs to feed the local wildlife which runs riot in the garden, OH and I eat and admire what's left! We've had lots of moles this year, they love our poly tunnels especially when we have watered but their runs disturb the tomato plants, we caught one yesterday and I felt so mean, they are such cute creatures.

M0nica

Grey squirrels are the focus of my ire. In our garden we have a beautiful hazel tree and, now, also a walnut. In 28 years living here we have not consumed a single nut off either tree.

The squirrels get there first and every lovely brown nut I pick off the grass, I turn it over and there is the hole drilled out and the kernel gone.

I HATE grey squirrels.

They're so cute too but they bury nuts all over the garden which sprout into oak and hazel trees and empty my pots, throwing soil over the patio and gravel.

I remember staying in a wooden chalet in the Tropical North, nanna8 and woke up to hear a gnawing sound thd other side of the wooden wall.
"Aw, it'll just be the possum, mate" was the reassurance!

Destructive little beasts but so cute and they are protected so farmers can't dispose of them.

I'm sorry about your plants, how upsetting.

It’s the damn red Lily beetle I do battle with every year!

My friend has just had her kitchen garden munched to bits by the rats who attacked all manner of vegetables etc. She lives in the middle of the country.