Hi Annie
(Continued from old thread, as well).
Re. the cat – if it’s a hog box with ‘corridors’ I’ve found the best way to keep the cats out is to reduce the height of the corridor by putting bricks, paviers, or other suitable object (wood would do). The hogs don’t mind at all climbing over bricks, etc, and are able to turn and squeeze through surprisingly small spaces. That seems to work better than all the other methods I’ve tried – despite people saying the other things worked! I suspect not everyone has such bendy determined cats!
Froggy seems to have disappeared. I suspect he/she has gone elsewhere for spawning time and don’t hold out much hope for getting any in my pond! Someone a few doors down has a bigger pond and I suspect that’s where they go – maybe even where they came from.
I don’t seem to get squirrels here (although shouldn’t talk too soon), which is strange as I see them over the road running along the electricity wires. But a ratty was there again last night – after a break. It only has one eye with eyeshine and I think it might be the same one as I’ve seen before. I might put some strategically placed object on the grass near where I put the hog food – no hogs for a few weeks now, but won’t be long until the boys emerge – I hope. Ratty went into the hibernation box again, but came straight out, so I hope the boy/s are ok in there.
Re. The bird food. Yes, I came to the same conclusion. I used to get all sorts of strange things growing from what the birds chucked out! In between I tried sunflower seeds but got fed up with the carpet of empty seed cases! At the moment it’s sunflower hearts and suet pellets (the suet pellets in a bowl on a raised area). The seed doesn’t get put out if a rat visits. Sometimes they get fat squares instead of the seed, but the starlings make short work of that!
Yes, there’s certainly been a lot going on in 2022 already and it’s hardly begun! Just hope it’s a good year for the hogs. Fingers crossed for them all.
