Hi Annie, Nic,
A bit of good news on the hedge netting front… I passed the development the other day where they had draped all that awful orange netting over the hedgerows. After protests, the builders had already planted a few mature trees, but they have now also planted a new hedge and one of the existing hedges that had been draped in netting has been unmasked and left in situ..And all this before any bricks have been laid. It’s not ideal, but this firm at least has taken notice and is making an effort, let’s hope that other developers follow suit.
Sorry to hear about your rat problem again Nic, we have been having a huge problem with a cat and it’s not been the hedgehogs dinner that it’s been after this time! For the last week we have been desperately trying to protect a nest box full of blue tits. I came down one morning to find the said cat wrapped around the box with its paw inside, thankfully I was just in time. It has been incredibly persistent despite strategically placed garden canes, a young hawthorn bush and a water sprinkler placed underneath to protect them. Despite several more attempts at getting its paw inside, the majority seem to have survived and fledged on Monday. A few of them finished up on the ground so I spent most of the day in the garden like a mother hen making sure they were out of reach of any felines. Great tits have used the same nest box in previous years without any problems, but it looks as though we are going to have to move it now.
The garden is alive with young birds at the moment; the starlings are busy feeding their offspring and have already demolished a suet block that I put out only yesterday, we have even seen baby song thrushes for the first time in years. Our rescue hog Pumpkin has been very busy flirting with the boys so hopefully we might see some hoglets this year.
I hope you manage to solve the rat problem Nic, I thought I had spotted one on the trail cam the other night, but thankfully it was just a large wood mouse very close to the lens. Hopefully your hog will return Annie to keep check on the building work; they do like to inspect everything!
