There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

Nick wrote

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Rats?
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...
Nick wrote

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Rats?
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK


I thought Rats, but isn't a 6 inch hole a bit too large? I thought Moles
going for the worms, but again, a 6 inch hole, they seem to burrow at body
diameter AND, do Moles go into compost heaps?

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:
Nick wrote

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Rats?

That's a damn big rat! Holes made by them are 2-3" in diameter and
typically continuous - this was definitely made by a surface dwelling
animal looking for food, rather than for nesting.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

wrote in message ...
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:
Nick wrote

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Rats?

That's a damn big rat! Holes made by them are 2-3" in diameter and
typically continuous - this was definitely made by a surface dwelling
animal looking for food, rather than for nesting.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

One hell of an outsider, but, please don't laugh ...................
blackbirds?

(I won't put any money on that one)

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:48:05 +0000 (GMT), wrote:


Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


A test boring for a vixen's birthing den? T'is the right time of
year.

Regards
JonH

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In article ,
wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

A test boring for a vixen's birthing den? T'is the right time of
year.

Vixen aren't THAT much smaller! The second hole was such that
I don't believe a fox of either sex could have got in without
making the hole a lot larger. The material doesn't have much
structural integrity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In article ,
'Mike' wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

Rats?

That's a damn big rat! Holes made by them are 2-3" in diameter and
typically continuous - this was definitely made by a surface dwelling
animal looking for food, rather than for nesting.

One hell of an outsider, but, please don't laugh ...................
blackbirds?

No. Not the sort of holes that they make.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:18:15 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

A test boring for a vixen's birthing den? T'is the right time of
year.

Vixen aren't THAT much smaller! The second hole was such that
I don't believe a fox of either sex could have got in without
making the hole a lot larger. The material doesn't have much
structural integrity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The test boring obviously failed to find a suitable site. I have had
to fill in more than one test excavation of that ilk. The daft
b*ggers are quite prepared to dig down towards the foundations of
walls. Made a mess of my strawberry patch last year. And a patch of
lawn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fox makes good reading regarding
their digging techniques.

Please let us know when you identify the culprit.

Regards
JonH

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:18:15 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

A test boring for a vixen's birthing den? T'is the right time of
year.

Vixen aren't THAT much smaller! The second hole was such that
I don't believe a fox of either sex could have got in without
making the hole a lot larger. The material doesn't have much
structural integrity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

This is quite interesting too...

http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/index.html

Regards
JonH

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In article ,
wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fox makes good reading regarding
their digging techniques.

The way that they were dug was what made me think of a fox. My
point is that I don't think that even a vixen could have dug that
particular hole, because of its orientation and size. It is
just possible that it wasn't dug, but pushed into, which WOULD
be a plausible size.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In message
wrote:

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:18:15 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

A test boring for a vixen's birthing den? T'is the right time of
year.

Vixen aren't THAT much smaller! The second hole was such that
I don't believe a fox of either sex could have got in without
making the hole a lot larger. The material doesn't have much
structural integrity.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

This is quite interesting too...

http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/index.html

Regards
JonH

I know our (Wirral) head game warden reasonably well and he had two
foxes living in an enclosure in his garden, I was amazed visiting
him one day when he introduced me to his two foxes and one of them
stood up on hind legs on my thigh allowing me to stroke him, these
particular pair of foxes he had saved from certain death and were
quite tame obviously, but I will always remember the experience of
meeting a live fox which although I have seen many in the wild I
have never had the honour of stroking one.


--
http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk
From the Wirral Peninsula.
Coach painting tips and techniques + Land Rover colour codes
"Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble". Henry Royce

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

In article , Sacha wrote:

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?

Rats?

That's a damn big rat! Holes made by them are 2-3" in diameter and
typically continuous - this was definitely made by a surface dwelling
animal looking for food, rather than for nesting.

We had ferrets nesting in our compost heap one year. Wear gloves!

For a ferret THAT size, I would need chainmail-reinforced gloves!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

On Feb 26, 8:28*pm, wrote:
In article , Sacha wrote:

Actually, two. *One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. *That's a damn small fox! *I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. *Any ideas?

Rats?

That's a damn big rat! *Holes made by them are 2-3" in diameter and
typically continuous - this was definitely made by a surface dwelling
animal looking for food, rather than for nesting.

We had ferrets nesting in our compost heap one year. *Wear gloves!

For a ferret THAT size, I would need chainmail-reinforced gloves!

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Well a 6inch hole sounds like rabbits to me.

There's a hole in my compost, dear Liza ....
 

wrote in message ...

Actually, two. One looked very much like a fox digging out a
mouse, but the other was fairly neat, 6" in diameter, and turned
a corner. That's a damn small fox! I could easily get mink,
but I didn't think that they dug much. Any ideas?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Rats after the worms


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk