"Nick Maclaren" wrote ...
after "Bob Hobden" moaned:
| Some of our potatoes have been eaten, not by slugs, we know what that
looks
| like thank you.
|
| The marks are shallow scoops out of the flesh on most damaged ones
although
| some have been eaten almost away. Are there any small (burrowing)
rodents
| that eat potatoes below ground? That's what it looks like.

Yes. Several. Voles, mice and rats.

| What makes me ask is seeing a vole type creature today scurry around
where
| we have some lettuce. We have bait boxes containing a powerful
rat/mouse
| poison spread around the plot so whatever it is it doesn't eat the
peanut
| butter flavoured bait. I'm wondering if it may therefore be mainly
| carnivorous as not as many potatoes were slug attacked as we expected
| considering the weather. Could it be eating the slugs and damaging the
| potatoes in the process?

Very unlikely. It is probably one of the voles, and they are very
vegetarian (UNLIKE mice and rats), so that peanut butter probably
won't tempt them. I wouldn't worry too much, as they don't cause
much damage unless there are lots of them.

Not concerned this time as there is less slug damage than usual despite the
constant rain. Where they have been eaten they have healed over. Certainly
more whole potatoes and less hole potatoes than last year. :-)
(Kestral, Romano and Victoria)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden