Slug patrol this evening was low, even in the area around the compost heap I
didn't get any. As I headed up along the strawberry patch my torch caught a
glimmer in the cornsurprisedfellow slug catcher bolted out of sight into
the cover of the Kerria.

Slug patrol will now be missing the south west corner of the garden and the
pickings from the rest aren't going to be sliced and left in place any
more. I'm not entirely surprised to see a slow worm since the corner of
the garden it went into has been deliberately left overgrown, there are
some logs left lying around down there to encourage beetles and other
predators, the compost heap is down there, the undergrowth is a bit thicker
and it is fairly sheltered and warm.

I'm fairly sure it wasn't there until recently, and I think I know where it
probably came from. One of the gardens that backs on to that section of our
garden was, until last week, a wilderness. They've been the source of our
bramble incursions and the dreaded knotweed. Last week there was a black
land rover parked outside their front and lots of gardening sounds in the
rear. The wilderness was cut down and the back garden was gravelled over.

I'm guessing the slow worm is a refugee from there. I'm very pleased to
have it make a home in my garden and will be doing everything to encourage
it to stay (and hopefully bring family). As I don't know if it was alone,
if there is a mate around etc and it is mating season, I won't be stirring
the compost heap too much and I won't be doing the planned clearing of that
corner for the pumpkins. I'm going to have to think a bit about how to
increase the nice places for slow worms while making it a little less
untidy to the eye without disturbing the current cover or making too much
noise. The first priority will be Holly proofing that corner. As there is
only a 3 foot gap between the Kerria and the greenhouse that should be
possible. The slug patrol will now become a delivery service an to
encourage the slugs to not wander back up the garden too far, I'll scatter
slightly gone flower heads and dandelions around the area along with the
buckets and planters that they take refuge under already. I have a couple
of gravel boards going spare and I can lay them flat just above the ground
(resting on small rocks) with planters on top to help things look good and
give the lizards somewhere safe and welcoming.

Lizard-cam anyone?

On Tue, 24 May 2005 23:07:53 +0100, Warwick
wrote:

Slug patrol this evening was low,

Weirdo tosspot. Get alife.

The message
from Warwick contains these words:

I'm guessing the slow worm is a refugee from there. I'm very pleased to
have it make a home in my garden and will be doing everything to encourage
it to stay (and hopefully bring family). As I don't know if it was alone,
if there is a mate around etc and it is mating season, I won't be stirring
the compost heap too much and I won't be doing the planned clearing of that
corner for the pumpkins. I'm going to have to think a bit about how to
increase the nice places for slow worms while making it a little less
untidy to the eye without disturbing the current cover or making too much
noise.

Some flat stones they can get underneath would be a start, or a pile of
rocks (as opposed to a rockery) for them to get in amongst.

The first priority will be Holly proofing that corner. As there is
only a 3 foot gap between the Kerria and the greenhouse that should be
possible. The slug patrol will now become a delivery service an to
encourage the slugs to not wander back up the garden too far, I'll scatter
slightly gone flower heads and dandelions around the area along with the
buckets and planters that they take refuge under already. I have a couple
of gravel boards going spare and I can lay them flat just above the ground
(resting on small rocks) with planters on top to help things look good and
give the lizards somewhere safe and welcoming.

Sounds good. I love slow-worms/blind-worms/deaf-adders.

Butbutbutbut - they aren't slow, they aren't blind, and unlike adders,
they aren't deaf - so much for country lore...

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes
The message
from Warwick contains these words:

Slug patrol this evening was low, even in the area around the compost heap I
didn't get any. As I headed up along the strawberry patch my torch caught a
glimmer in the cornsurprisedfellow slug catcher bolted out of sight into
the cover of the Kerria.

Lucky you, and congratulations on taking such good care of it, hope
it stays around. The only slow worm I've seen here was dead, squished
on the road :-(

We used to have lots of them in our garden in Sevenoaks. The cats would
bring them in, and we'd find them under cushions, none the worse for
wear. Beautiful things, lovely colouring, and an alert intelligent look.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

On Tue, 24 May 2005 23:07:53 +0100, Warwick
wrote:

snip

I'm guessing the slow worm is a refugee from there. I'm very pleased to
have it make a home in my garden and will be doing everything to encourage
it to stay (and hopefully bring family). As I don't know if it was alone,
if there is a mate around etc and it is mating season, I won't be stirring
the compost heap too much and I won't be doing the planned clearing of that
corner for the pumpkins. I'm going to have to think a bit about how to
increase the nice places for slow worms while making it a little less
untidy to the eye without disturbing the current cover or making too much
noise. The first priority will be Holly proofing that corner. As there is
only a 3 foot gap between the Kerria and the greenhouse that should be
possible. The slug patrol will now become a delivery service an to
encourage the slugs to not wander back up the garden too far, I'll scatter
slightly gone flower heads and dandelions around the area along with the
buckets and planters that they take refuge under already. I have a couple
of gravel boards going spare and I can lay them flat just above the ground
(resting on small rocks) with planters on top to help things look good and
give the lizards somewhere safe and welcoming.

They love an old bit of carpet!
My colony of slow worms moved in when I started laying out carpet as a
mulch in the veg patch - last summer we counted more than a dozen
adults...and a grass snake.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

The message
from (Janet) contains these words:

Weirdo tosspot. Get alife.

Plonk.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Stephen Howard" wrote after Warwick:

snip

I'm guessing the slow worm is a refugee from there. I'm very pleased to
have it make a home in my garden and will be doing everything to encourage
it to stay (and hopefully bring family). As I don't know if it was alone,
if there is a mate around etc and it is mating season, I won't be stirring
the compost heap too much and I won't be doing the planned clearing of
that
corner for the pumpkins. I'm going to have to think a bit about how to
increase the nice places for slow worms while making it a little less
untidy to the eye without disturbing the current cover or making too much
noise. The first priority will be Holly proofing that corner. As there is
only a 3 foot gap between the Kerria and the greenhouse that should be
possible. The slug patrol will now become a delivery service an to
encourage the slugs to not wander back up the garden too far, I'll scatter
slightly gone flower heads and dandelions around the area along with the
buckets and planters that they take refuge under already. I have a couple
of gravel boards going spare and I can lay them flat just above the ground
(resting on small rocks) with planters on top to help things look good and
give the lizards somewhere safe and welcoming.

They love an old bit of carpet!
My colony of slow worms moved in when I started laying out carpet as a
mulch in the veg patch - last summer we counted more than a dozen
adults...and a grass snake.


Or a bit of corrugated iron laying on the ground as found on our old
allotment site, found 6 young ones under one piece last year, and a big
silver male in our compost heap.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

Stephen Howard wrote:

On Tue, 24 May 2005 23:07:53 +0100, Warwick
wrote:

snip
They love an old bit of carpet!
My colony of slow worms moved in when I started laying out carpet as a
mulch in the veg patch - last summer we counted more than a dozen
adults...and a grass snake.

I think I've got a bit of old carpet up in the loft. Hessian backed stuff
too rather than foam.

I've now Holly proofed the corner (Holly being our old english sheepdog),
very carefully made it look a bit tidier without moving anything major, put
down a few boards across the ground and excavated easy passage under a
couple of fence panels to give them easy access to the other gardens.

I know I'd put a severe dent in the local slug population anyway, but in the
back garden tonight I only moved one slug to the area near the compost
bin. The slow worm(s) must be fairly ruthlessly efficient hunters.

I also reflected earlier this evening at how glad I am that I haven't
resorted to slug pellets this year since I doubt that metaldehyde would be
much good for reptilian digestion.

Warwick

On Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:11 +0100, Warwick
wrote:

Stephen Howard wrote:

On Tue, 24 May 2005 23:07:53 +0100, Warwick
wrote:

snip
They love an old bit of carpet!
My colony of slow worms moved in when I started laying out carpet as a
mulch in the veg patch - last summer we counted more than a dozen
adults...and a grass snake.

I think I've got a bit of old carpet up in the loft. Hessian backed stuff
too rather than foam.]

Good point.....foam backed carpet is no use at all in the garden!

I've now Holly proofed the corner (Holly being our old english sheepdog),
very carefully made it look a bit tidier without moving anything major, put
down a few boards across the ground and excavated easy passage under a
couple of fence panels to give them easy access to the other gardens.

I know I'd put a severe dent in the local slug population anyway, but in the
back garden tonight I only moved one slug to the area near the compost
bin. The slow worm(s) must be fairly ruthlessly efficient hunters.

Every little helps - but I reckon picking 'em off is about the best
way to keep the population in check.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

The message
from (Janet) contains these words:

Weirdo tosspot. Get alife.

Plonk.

I didn't see the original response. Was I being insulted by the lovely troll
or was someone following me up being insulted? Not that I give a damn about
the troll, but I'm worried that my filters may have caught an innocent.

Filtering out an innocent would mean that I have to take my news server
administrator into a corner and have sharp words with me^h^hhim.

Warwick

The message
from Warwick contains these words:

Plonk.

I didn't see the original response. Was I being insulted by the lovely troll
or was someone following me up being insulted? Not that I give a damn about
the troll, but I'm worried that my filters may have caught an innocent.

No idea. No attributions or content. Usual high standard of illiteracy
and ignorance.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:
The message
from Warwick contains these words:


I didn't see the original response. Was I being insulted by the
lovely troll

Yes. Don't worry, your filters are working fine :-) But your eyesight
does need testing.

He's been using that Niagra stuff, I expect...

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/