Animals in your garden

[gary350]

I am getting a lot of enjoyment from the animals, birds, butterflies, zinnias, sunflowers. We have several baby squirls, lots of birds, lots of butterflies, cat & dog. Some mornings 9 to 11 deer in front yard. Sometimes wild turkeys with 12 babies. Skink family with 4 babies. 2 red fox, 1 coyote, possum, racoon, & rabbit. We have a wren with a birth defect is sings its lungs out but there is no sound. Wood pecker is funny to listen too. The brown thrasher is making a different sound than 2 months ago it sounds like some child flipping a screen door spring over & over. Zinnias & sunflowers are a magnet for several yellow finches and lots of multi color butterflies. Humming bird feeder attracts lots of hummers. Moles tunnels every where. I often set in the shade with a glass of ice water & enjoy the show. I it very rare to have animal problems in the garden. Raccoons like corn when it is ripe for 3 days. Birds peck tomatoes when they are thirsty. Turtles can climb like a squirl over a 4 ft fence to eat tomatoes but I seldom have turtles.

 

[YumYum]

Eating breakfast and looking out the window I saw something quite large visiting the salvia flowers and hovering. I went out for a closer look and it was a humming bird hawk moth, a rare treat.

I've been seeing more and more of them. The first time I saw one I thought it might be a baby hummingbird. I'm thinking they come from the tomato hornworm, so I guess I've been helping them along.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

She was just seeing if your garden was worth eating before laying her eggs which turn into hornworm caterpillars.

Not at all, it was flying from flower to flower, hovering in front of each one and supping nectar with a very long proboscis

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Also not a problem for me, we are too far North for them to breed here, they migrate from the Mediterranean area. I am not sure if it is actually the same thing, they are supposedly Eur-Asian, Macroglossum stellatarum. They are supposed to be lucky, the fleet for the Normandy invasion passed through a big cloud of them crossing the Channel, the luck worked that time

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The badger has been digging holes here there and everywhere, the lawn, the leeks, under the gooseberry bush. Not too much serious destruction yet, but... I am hoping it is just because there has been warm weather and lots of rain, so worms will be up near the surface.

 

[Sheal]

Badgers visit my garden too Oliver. There's usually food around the base of my bird feeding station and since discovering that they've stopped digging up the garden. I noticed last week that moles are now active again around here. They are a bloomin' nuisance!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

He's a big old fellow, we saw him just as it was getting dark one night. Last year I painted he was well into my raised bed. I painted the top of the woodwork around it with paraffin, that seemed to work. I am thinking about making some pegs to distribute round the place and soaking the top of them. One side of me really likes having him about, the other side doesn't want my plants and lawn dug up.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

He had been everywhere, digging up leeks, chard, kale, lawns, everything. So I got out the bottle and brush that I had been painting 'creolight' on to the old greenhouse with, topped it up with paraffin, and started going round the wood work. I had just about finished when I stepped back , caught my heel, took two steps back and sat down in the carrots, tipping the remaining paraffin over myself. badger won't come near me now

 

[Sheal]

Let's hope the paraffin has solved the problem, but I suggest you don't get too near a lighted match Oliver.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I hung my shirt and tee shirt on the line over the garden, let him smell me and paraffin together. Besides I wouldn't dare put paraffin smelling clothes near the missus' washing machine while she is away on holiday, let them air a bit first. I know a dangerous situation when I see one.

 

[Logan]

@Oliver Buckle That's a shame about your carrots and that keeps away the badger.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

@Oliver Buckle That's a shame about your carrots and that keeps away the badger.

The carrots survived, I only sat back on them :0 I think it is working to deter the badger, and the rain washed my shirt through.

 

[Logan]

The carrots survived, I only sat back on them :0 I think it is working to deter the badger, and the rain washed my shirt through.

That's great about the carrots and your shirt will have a good rinse.

 

[brantelyolivia1320]

I have all these animals in my garden. ..
Bats and birds. ...
Earthworms and centipedes. ...
the bee ...
Ladybugs...
Garter snake. ...

 

[roadrunner]

The biggest animals in my yard were the Raccoon and Possum, but now there's a third I saw the other day, the Armadillo.