The slugs under the boards look very sick and I suspect they are terminally poisoned .All the same I kill them off to be sure.

I had never heard before about birds eating the slug pellets but I am certain something is doing it.

One day I thought I would lay the pellets barrier style around the base of the individual broccoli plants (as I thought they were particularly vulnerable) and did I not see a rat break cover very shortly after (in the daylight) and run back into the bushes when I disturbed it.

An inspection showed the pellets had nearly all gone.

Piling the in this way was an open invitation to the good rat but more normal ,sparse applications also disappear almost overnight and so I suspect birds or mice.

In any event my new technique of protecting the pellets under boards has worked well even if it more laborious.

I have tried all sorts of methods aside from these ferric phosphate slug pellets but I have great hope for them if I can overcome this hurdle (the fact that they are being eaten by something other than just the slugs.

There is one other suspect I have in my sights and it is the rabbits that I know also visit. But I doubt very much it could be them.