Nature

[Katharine]

Wow Anita, I've never seen (or maybe just not noticed) most of the birds and animals you've listed. I can't imagine it's a regional difference either, as you are only a few miles away (as the crow or seagull flies). Maybe I don't spend enough time outside, or do you see them through your windows?

We used to see frogs, but I haven't seen any for a couple of years now, and I do see butterflies and possibly a wren or two. The one bird I do notice a fair bit is the swift.

When you say orange slug, do you mean a brownish orange? If so, we get loads of those around here. If I kill slugs I do it by chopping them in half with a spade. I feel a bit guilty, but it's a case of them or me (or at least my precious plants) and hopefully their death was very quick.

As for weeds, I'm like Fiona - I just pull them up (eventually, anyway!)

I've never used ant powder. We did have a problem a few years ago with them in the house, so I used ordinary talc to try and deter them. I also wiped the kitchen floor with vinegar which is supposed to stop them. Years ago I poured boiling water down a hole that flying ones were swarming out of (outside), but afterwards I worried if I'd killed any earthworms or other insects.

[Fiona1986]

We've used insect spray indoors recently, as we had had larder beetles in the kitchen and even through in our bedroom. We don't have any pets or children though, so we didn't have to worry. We just can't pick up food from the kitchen floor and eat it now .

I can understand using weedkiller very sparingly on one or two very stubborn or hard to remove weeds, but some people seem to just cover their patios and paths liberally with the stuff which seems ludicrous.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm quite envious that Anita sees slow worms! I don't think I've ever seen one!

We had ants in the house a year ago, and it was very annoying. We vacuumed them up and I found that the best thing to do was to clean surfaces they were going on with disinfectant - which seems to put them off. It's best not to kill any ants as individuals, because they send out a signal to other ants, who come and investigate, I believe - ants always carry away the bodies of dead 'family' members.

Despite being right in the middle of the country we now have seagulls all year round - particularly by the reservoir and canal. Sometimes they're black-headed gulls, sometimes herring gulls. It still seems strange to hear them crying as they fly overhead, as we are so far from the sea!

[Katharine]

Although I don't think I'd use weed killer myself, if other people want to use it, then it's up to them. I do worry a bit about the environmental issues surrounding it, but then there are lots of things that impact on the environment, as as I mentioned before, being a car driver, and having gas heating, I'm not perfect myself. However, my big grievance was that the neighbours deliberately sprayed it on my property, without permission. I think their reasoning was that 'my' weeds were seeding in their garden, so they were trying to stop them. However I would think that even if I zapped any weed in my garden the moment it put up a shoot, they would still have weeds blowing in from elsewhere - that's what nature does.

I think I read an Enid Blyton story on this issue not so long ago, about a little man who tried building a big wall to keep the weeds out.

I saw a slow worm in Felixstowe last year on the cliff top - at least I think that's what it was.

We get gulls here sometimes, and are 12 miles from the coast. Apparently there is no such thing as a 'sea' gull, but that's what I always call them.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I always call them "seagulls" too! I like hearing the word "sea" in their name!

Wow Anita, I've never seen (or maybe just not noticed) most of the birds and animals you've listed. I can't imagine it's a regional difference either, as you are only a few miles away (as the crow or seagull flies). Maybe I don't spend enough time outside, or do you see them through your windows?

I'm quite envious that Anita sees slow worms! I don't think I've ever seen one!

We live in a street of terraced houses with an overgrown alleyway running along the bottoms of the gardens. All the streets round here are like that, and I think wildlife thrives in the alleyways. Slow-worms, foxes, wood mice and butterflies of all kinds are common - we see them frequently. Geese fly overhead very often, but I've only seen swans fly over twice in twenty years. Their wings make a distinctive creaking noise. Dragonflies are also frequent visitors, but once in a long while we get absolute swarms of them - a fascinating sight. I see frogs several times a year while gardening, but toads rarely. Redwings come in flocks for a short time during harsh winters, while I've only seen jays and wrens and yellow wagtails a few times each. Of course, we get plenty of sparrows, pigeons, etc.

When you say orange slug, do you mean a brownish orange? If so, we get loads of those around here. If I kill slugs I do it by chopping them in half with a spade. I feel a bit guilty, but it's a case of them or me (or at least my precious plants) and hopefully their death was very quick.

They range from browny-orange to carrot-orange! I leave them for the slow-worms to catch!

[KEVP]

A few weeks ago two mice came to visit me in my flat. (or else one mouse that was VERY fast and sneaky) I reported them to my landlord, and also went to the store on my own. The best quality product (which I bought) did involve poison. It was a sort of little plastic tunnel, with a place to put a cube of poison. So the mouse would crawl in, eat the poison, then I guess take it back to its home? The instructions told me to check every several days. If the cube of poison had been eaten, then I was supposed to put in a fresh cube. Otherwise, assume the mouse problem had been taken care of. I checked a week after putting it in, and it didn't look like any mouse had eaten any of the poison. So I threw everything away, and assumed the mice had given up.

I had been out of town for a few days just before seeing the mice, maybe they thought the flat was empty and moved in, and then were shocked to discover someone living there. Also, one of my neighbors does have a cat. . .

Now that I think about it, I have used ant traps that I think also have poison in them, but only when an ant problem got seriously out of hand. And I have used poison when a hive of bees made their home in a gap between some boards of the house I used to live in.

So basically, I would only use poison when a problem is out of hand and is directly affecting the space where I live. Otherwise I leave well enough alone.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Every once in a while we get mice in the house and we've had great success catching them using traditional snappy traps (they only cost 99p per trap) baited with pieces of peanut.

[pete9012S]

Good tip Anita.I believe mice love nuts even more than cheese.

[Fiona1986]

We've always used raisins on mouse traps. I think mice's love of cheese is a creation of cartoonists!

[Katharine]

I think the general rule with rodents is sugar/fat. The rat trap I got suggested it is smeared with chocolate spread or peanut butter. I know someone who spotted a rat climbing up to the bird feeder and eating the fat ball there.

[pete9012S]

That's very true Katharine.My Mum has little field mice that feed on the fatballs on her bird feeder.
She's always been very afraid of mice - but these friendly outdoor ones are slowly winning her over!

In my garden we have squirrels that climb up our bird feeder to eat the fatballs.
We have two little field mice,but they seem content to eat all the crumbs and bits that fall to the ground when the birds peck at the feeders.

[Carlotta King]

Ugh, the thought of mouse traps is horrible!
I know mice are considered pests but I couldn't bring myself to use anything so cruel that snaps the poor mouse in half and leaves it to die in agony.
Mice are, after all, living creatures just like the rest, just trying to live their lives and find something to eat.
I would buy traps of the kind where its a box of some sort that the mouse goes into to get the food, and I would bait it with something the mouse likes, then take it outside and let the mouse go.

Also with poison traps there is the risk that local cats will eat the poisoned mouse and then die a horrible death themselves.

I guess most people will laugh at me and think I'm way too over the top for bothering about 'just a mouse', but to me, theyre living, feeling creatures that feel fear and pain just like the rest of us, and they've got as much right to live their life as anything else.

[Julie2owlsdene]

A cat or a dog is a good deterant for anything you don't want in your house or garden.

We have many squirrels visiting too and I love to watch them as they too eat from the bird feeders we have, it's amazing to see them dangling down taking the food, then sitting on the fence and munching away using their two front paws. Happily Rosie can't get them as our fencing is high and they are very quick. Nature is wonderful, and like Cathy, I too couldn't kill anything.

[Fiona1986]

I don't think that's a silly attitude, Carlotta. It has always been my parents who have set the mouse traps. I had more of a "they're not bothering us, so why bother them,' sort of attitude. Though it may jhave been different if we were completely over-run with them.

[Daisy]

Some years ago we had a few field mice who decided indoors was preferable to the field next to our garden. When one ran across the top of my pillow one night we decided enough was enough. We got the type of trap where the mouse goes into it for the bait and the little door drops shut, trapping it inside. We found the best bait was chocolate. We used to take the whole thing for a car ride and let the mice go about a mile from home.. hoping they would enjoy the new hedgerow so much that they wouldn't try to find their way back.