In message ,
Janet writes
In article , says...
Absolutely! what a wonderful thing to have otters in the garden. I
think I would be more than happy to share. Shame about the fish, I
know how I felt when the heron took all mine one year, after which I
netted the pond. I now have a really large flourishing pond community,
but would gladly remove the nets if I thought I could encourage
otters. Not sure I would keep replacing the fish, that could become
expensive. What else do they eat?
We were just talking about this last night, with the friends who supply
our eggs. They had just seen a chicken taken in broad daylight by an otter
:-) (They are very "country" people and would not mistake a mink for an
otter).
A month or so ago they and their neighbours' henhouses were being
raided in the daytime by local badgers who live on the same hill. D solved
this by closing the ground-level pophole to the chicken house, and
relocating it high up above badger reach (his chickens are agile enough
for limited flight). The neighbours keep a heavier breed of chicken, so
they too relocated their pophole to high up above badger-level but leaned
an old ladder up to it, so the chickens could get in. Next thing she hears
a commotion in the chickenhouse and arrived in time to meet the badger
nimbly shinning back down the ladder dragging a dead chicken in its gob...
Janet
Certainly both otters and badgers will take chickens, if the birds and
their owners allow themselves to be caught. I've just returned from a
family visit to Argyll; while there my brother-in-law - a retired head
forester - told/showed me how he had lost almost all his prize pigeons
to a mystery night-time raider. After setting a UV camera trap, he found
out that is was not fox, peregrine (which takes his birds regularly, but
he accepts this is part of the game), badger, mink or wildcat. Rather it
was a pine marten; it had got in, killed 90% of the birds and stored
them, out of sight, under the floor in 2 perfect lines, presumably to
await recovery.
I guess we are somewhat OT here so I hope I am excused for cross posting
to uk.rec.wildlife rather than the gardening group where this started.
--
Gopher .... I know my place!