In article , Kay
wrote:
In article , Jim Lesurf jcgl@st-
and.demon.co.uk writes
The odd thing is that the cat doesn't leave a present as the mix of
folded membrane and mulch seem to put it off. But every night it has
another try. Stupid as well as deaf and no sense of smell...

Doesn't sound like a cat. The cat deposits first, then scrapes to cover
the smell. So it would disturb the membrane until it had left a deposit.
Sounds more like something foraging for food in there.

It is certainly possible that it is something other than a cat/cats. This
was why I was using 'cats' (in inverted commas) and worded my initial
posting as I did. The puzzle, though, is what is it, if not a cat?

The evidence I had until shortly ago is as follows.

The distruction tends to occur overnight.

I have seen blackbirds pecking at the mulch, turning it over looking for
insects/worms. However they seem to attack relatively small areas, and
stand near where they peck. Hence having watched them peck over another
area where I have cocoa mulch but not membrane, I felt it doubtful they
would be able to lift and fold back such large areas of membrane, and do so
much damage in one night.

Whereas we do live near a 'cat lady' who feeds an ever-changing population
of the order of 1-2 dozen cats. Many of which do leave gifts in our garden,
often not bothering to cover them after deposit.

OTOH We may have other bird visitors. e,g, we do occasionally see a
pheasant, and I did hear this calling nearby in the early morning a day or
two ago. This may well be large enough to do the damage if it has the
necessary habits...

And since both the citronella and the ultrasonic 'scarer' seem to have zero
effect, perhaps some non-cat-creature(s) are indeed the culprits.

Whatever, short of sitting out 24 hours/day with a bow and arrow, I will
hope that heavy stones will be less prone to disturbance than the cocoa
mulch. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

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