"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | Of course, the Little Englanders who get paranoid about even the
most
| | harmless creatures (such as vipers and lynx) are beyond hope.
| |
| | Vipers I can understand.
|
| Why? They are less of a risk to humans in the UK than bumblebees
| or mice.
|
| What risks are there from mice???

Try infection :-)

How?

Mice run away from humans, unless they're pets.

I suspect more humans acquire infections from dogs and cats than forom any
other fauna.

| And how many times have you been stung by a bumble bee? I'd moved and
kept
| many bombus nests and never been stung.

Several times a year. I tread on them in bare feet - poor things.

You should watch where you're walking. If you tread on them you deserve to
be stung.

I walk about the garden with bare feet and have never been stung.

I have no problems picking them up in my bare hands when they get
trapped indoors, of course.

| It's not the being scared that is the issue, it is the becoming
| paranoid. We desperately need lynx in England to deal with the
| harm caused by uncontrolled deer.
|
| Guns are enough. That way people can enjoy the meat.

You also need people who are capable of stalking them, shooting safely,
willing to put the time in, and allowed to do so. Those used to be
common characteristics, and are now very rare.

Not VERY rare, perhaps more rare.

My game supplier always has lots of venison.

Mary



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | What risks are there from mice???
|
| Try infection :-)
|
| How?
|
| Mice run away from humans, unless they're pets.

All I said was that they were more danger to humans in the UK than
spiders are :-)Bizarre.

| I suspect more humans acquire infections from dogs and cats than forom any
| other fauna.

In the UK and except for other humans, yes.

| You should watch where you're walking. If you tread on them you deserve to
| be stung.
|
| I walk about the garden with bare feet and have never been stung.

I have bumblebees that nest in the lawn, and sometimes visit flowers
that are invisible under the grass. Your eyesight must be very
exceptional - are you, perhaps, allergic to kryptonite? :-)

| You also need people who are capable of stalking them, shooting safely,
| willing to put the time in, and allowed to do so. Those used to be
| common characteristics, and are now very rare.
|
| Not VERY rare, perhaps more rare.
|
| My game supplier always has lots of venison.

I believe that most of the venison eaten (let alone sold) in the UK is
now farmed, and the majority of the rest is from a small number of
large landholdings. Essentially none comes from the roe and muntjac
in the smaller woodlands of the south and midlands, where the problems
are.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On May 12, 2:29 am, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
Des Higgins writes:
| It is very hard to have a sensible conversation about venomous animals
| with Australians in the room. They are apt to interject with
| statements like:
| "the ones back home are the size of a dog and will take your leg off
| clean at the knee as soon as they look at you."

Indeed. They do have a point that they do have some seriously venomous
animals, though not as much so as they often make out.

My experience has been a bit different, but then I live in Australia. I can
understand the expat/tourist hyperbole put on for an audience of
non-Australians, but the odd question from the listener should sort out the
genuine from the liars. I find it rather depends on where the Australians
live and what their experiences have been with our venomous wildlife.

I've found that Autralians born in large towns and who have never lived in
the country are far more paranoid about snakes than those who are country
born. I haven't yet come across any Australian who is more than mildly
observant about sharks or spiders.

And Des, they aren't as big as a dog, but the Brown snake I have living

Ok ok; I am just jealous :-).


somewhere in my garden is about 4 ft long (but we haven't managed to kill
him yet so we haven't measured - the mongrel has lived in my garden for at
least the last 6 years) and the Tiger snakes we've killed here have been
about 3 and a half ft long and the Red Bellied Black snake that lives under
our other house on our other farm is about 5 ft long but much less venomous
than the other two mentioned. So they are adults and the Brown and the
Tiger have enough venom to kill a Jack Russell in about 20 minutes but the
Red BelliedBlack would take longer. Also enough to kill a human if not
treated. The only person I have heard of who has been bitten by a snake in
this area in the last 20 years suffered no ill damage as the first strike
from the brown snake puctured his jeans and his skin but injected no venom.

On 12/5/08 09:28, in article ,
"Mary Fisher" wrote:


"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | Of course, the Little Englanders who get paranoid about even the
most
| | harmless creatures (such as vipers and lynx) are beyond hope.
| |
| | Vipers I can understand.
|
| Why? They are less of a risk to humans in the UK than bumblebees
| or mice.
|
| What risks are there from mice???

Try infection :-)

How?

Mice run away from humans, unless they're pets.

They leave urine and faeces everywhere they go. Apparently, mice are
urinating almost constantly.


I suspect more humans acquire infections from dogs and cats than forom any
other fauna.

| And how many times have you been stung by a bumble bee? I'd moved and
kept
| many bombus nests and never been stung.

Several times a year. I tread on them in bare feet - poor things.

You should watch where you're walking. If you tread on them you deserve to
be stung.

I walk about the garden with bare feet and have never been stung.

I have no problems picking them up in my bare hands when they get
trapped indoors, of course.

| It's not the being scared that is the issue, it is the becoming
| paranoid. We desperately need lynx in England to deal with the
| harm caused by uncontrolled deer.
|
| Guns are enough. That way people can enjoy the meat.

You also need people who are capable of stalking them, shooting safely,
willing to put the time in, and allowed to do so. Those used to be
common characteristics, and are now very rare.

Not VERY rare, perhaps more rare.

My game supplier always has lots of venison.


Probably from farmed herds, which is very different to the essential culling
of wild deer in the e.g. Scottish Highlands.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...



| I suspect more humans acquire infections from dogs and cats than forom
any
| other fauna.

In the UK and except for other humans, yes.

Sorry, forgot humans. Perhaps we should exterminate all humans ...

| You should watch where you're walking. If you tread on them you deserve
to
| be stung.
|
| I walk about the garden with bare feet and have never been stung.

I have bumblebees that nest in the lawn, and sometimes visit flowers
that are invisible under the grass. Your eyesight must be very
exceptional - are you, perhaps, allergic to kryptonite? :-)

No - but we don't have grass. The banties have seen to that ... and the
presence of the banties means that I watch where I put my feet :-)

| You also need people who are capable of stalking them, shooting
safely,
| willing to put the time in, and allowed to do so. Those used to be
| common characteristics, and are now very rare.
|
| Not VERY rare, perhaps more rare.
|
| My game supplier always has lots of venison.

I believe that most of the venison eaten (let alone sold) in the UK is
now farmed, and the majority of the rest is from a small number of
large landholdings. Essentially none comes from the roe and muntjac
in the smaller woodlands of the south and midlands, where the problems
are.

I don't buy farmed venison, most of what we buy is red deer, shot in the
wild where, like hare, it does a lot of damage.

We eat a lot of game ...

Mary


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Wally" wrote in message
...
I was on my allotment this morning in the
nice warm sunshine and noticed hundreds
of spiders running around all over the ground.

Are these spiders the same as the ones that
live in my house, my shed, etc?

Is your house withing spider-walking distance of your allotment?

I walk there most days Mary, but I have longer legs but not so many )

If not no, they are not the same spiders.

I thought I did'nt recognise any of them )

Wally


Mary