Further adventures with wildlife

The local wildlife has been up to its old tricks again...

I don't know whether it is foxes, or badgers or what that does this, but something has dug an enormous hole underneath one of my fences. The excavations take place at night-time so I never get to see the culprits.

The hole under the fence

Fortunately this hole is in a place where it has not really caused any damage (down at the bottom of the garden near the "Fish tree"). This is not the first time this has happened. My neighbours on both sides have tried on occasions to block off the "Badger" holes, but it doesn't do any good -- the animals simply dig another hole nearby. I think it is best to just leave them to it. They have probably been travelling around this area for generations - well before our houses were built - and they no doubt consider us to be the interlopers!

Having just put up the fleece covering over a couple of my raised beds, I was a bit dismayed this morning to find that one of them has a distinctly "walked-upon" look...

Someone's been walking on my fleece...

I suspect that the culprit in this case may be a cat. One of my neighbours' cats is a big fan of fleece. Last year he repeatedly jumped on top of one of my fleece covers until he made a hole in it, which he then used as access to a nice warm shelter, in which he would sleep. In the mornings I often found him curled up fast asleep in amongst my overwintering chicories.

I have tried to make the fleece covering a bit more secure by adding some clips to hold it onto the hoops.

Clip holding the fleece in place

I think most gardeners would agree with me that slugs (and snails) are their worst enemies.

Here's a picture of one rather disgusting specimen I found in my garden this week. I think I'll just go out and offer him a little blue pellet...

Yuk!


Why not have a look at the photos that my fellow blogger Kelli Boyles published recently, showing the damage that slugs and snails inflicted on her cabbage crop...? http://www.kelliboylesgarden.blogspot.com/