On 27/09/2013 11:44, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-09-27 11:31:19 +0100, Broadback said:

On 27/09/2013 11:23, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-09-27 11:15:01 +0100, Jake said:

On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 10:30:58 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Thu, 26 Sep 2013 21:57:35 +0100, sacha wrote:

On 2013-09-26 18:00:38 +0000, Jeff Layman said:

An absolute plague of them this year. I don't have too much concern
what the leatherjackets might do to the lawn, but does anyone
have any
experience of leatherjacket damage in borders or pots?

It's quite strange because we've seen two craneflies and our jackdaw
population has dropped dramatically.

Our jackdaw population has risen dramatically, but all our many
magpies have disappeared.

Have only seen a couple of crane flies this year, nothing like the
usual numbers.

After last year's magpie "explosion" the neighbouring farmer has been
culling this year and I haven't seen more than 2 together at any time
Last year a dozen or more would arrive in the garden together and kill
other birds, apparently for sport as the bodies were left lying where
they fell. It's a lot quieter too!

We rarely see magpies in the garden, possibly because we have a rookery.
But if seen, they're shot. And farmers here shoot them and our rooks,
unfortunately! Yesterday I saw a rather dishevelled young buzzard
sitting on top of a telegraph pole and Ray thinks it's the one he'd seen
earlier, being mobbed by the rooks!
Many magpies here, though there seems a dearth of Squirrels. An
newspaper article recently claimed that the grey squirrel population
has, for no known reason has dropped, and red squirrels are on the up.

Yes, I read that, too. And they've recently released red squirrels on
Tresco, which has no greys. Jersey has only red squirrels but some of
those are almost black.

I hear you have been exporting what our local paper calls "deadly false
widow spiders". Loads of sightings here in the south east, but
apparently it has been thriving in Devon for some years.
I will be taking extra care bringing the washing in.....