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Sunday 5 July 2020

The tail of...

Ratty and the Wind in the Wrenery!

My aim was to make a wildlife garden to encourage creatures great and small, minus slugs obv! and on all counts I have succeeded.

Last night as we put Ellie out I turned on the lights and saw Hedge was here with a friend, not another prickly one this time but one with a long tail.  The kindness of strangers i.e. me was being extended to rats as well as hedgehogs.  Now where do you cross the line and say there’s wildlife and there’s well, wildlife with long furry tails.
‘Rats lives Matter’ 
might be a consideration?
Call me a softie I don’t care!
Alright, alright I am guilty of bowling a snail into the path of oncoming vehicles and poking a pigeon up the posterior, however I do try to love my fellow creatures.
These pictures show Saturday’s entertainment.






The rat was having a lovely time harvesting the sunflower seeds rushing off and stashing them away  just a short hop... where?
Backwards and forwards it went stopping for the occasional drink in the recently opened since lockdown was lifted bar...
‘The Shell Bowl’ 
to the right of the picture featuring the FT.
Being a novice wildlife photographer I missed the shot of the rat silhouetted on the top!
After a very interesting luncheon, ours not the rats, we decided to investigate.
Husband moved the logs where we were both sure the nest would be, last night we saw it disappear into there.  All, was clean as a  whistle.  Husband admitted he was relieved not to find a nest of ten babies because he would hate to kill them, I felt the same.  We decided the rat was nipping under the fence and so in a nutshell or more to the point, a sunflower seed kernel it wasn’t our problem.
So as of now we are live and let  live.  Sounds like a good plan to me, because after all if you are encouraging the wildlife you have to entertain the not so fragrant as well as the positively
gooey-wooey, cuddly-wubbly, don’t you agree?

10 comments:

  1. What a cute little ratty! For several years we had rats getting into the kitchen...under the sink, into the rubbish bins and one of the drawers where the tasty oven glove was kept. ( they like nibbling bars of soap too). Basically coming in behind the fitted kitchen. Eventually P and a friend ( a kitchen fitter as it happens! ) took the place apart and found a tiny hole in the wall above the skirting. That was cemented up with added broken glass I think and no more problem....well, not in the kitchen anyway. They were also in the garden....often to be seen inside the squirrel proof bird feeder. One time the dogs were under the feeder, oblivious to the ratty above...I went out and it more or less dropped onto the dogs' heads. Both bred for rat catching, a yorkie and a schnauzer, but neither of them got it !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don’t they say wherever you are you are no more than three feet away from a rat. They are there whether you see them or not. The wildlife show goes on.

      Ellie was watching as well, totally disinterested. Now a squirrel in the forest is a different ball game altogether.

      LX

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  2. Rats are fascinating, but...a very big but!! The diseases they carry outweigh their merits as sociable caring animals..to their own kind that is

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I totally agree, for the a time being we are watching and waiting. We could always tell next door and hopefully their yapping rat might kill them, although more likely to mate with them and then we would have rats that not only carry diseases but bark as well!?! A lose-lose situation.

      LX

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  3. Pigeons carry more diseases dangerous to humans than rats do. After seeing a Bill Oddie program on rats years ago - we are in your camp. Leave the little blighters alone (but make sure the house is 'rat-proof'). We don't actually deliberately feed them, and had to get creative to keep a very persistent one out of the bird feeders, but we are strictly no poison and no traps.

    We also encourage foxy, who probably dines well on ratty from time to time. Nature in balance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is pretty obvious that the food put out for the birds and hedgehogs has been a big draw. The birds have totally ignored the sunflower seed head all winter. It is good to see it being appreciated. They are very intelligent creatures by all accounts.

      LX

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  4. Are English rats more cuddly than American? Well, it is entertaining. Are you sure it was a he?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No! It could so easily be a she feeding a family!?!

      LX

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  5. Nope, I don't agree, only cuddly, cute or without long tails need apply. x (is this animalist?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was talking about the hedgehogs being cuddly not the rat...

      LX

      Delete

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