But mosquitoes are one of the must important food sources there is for wildlife … so I leave them for the birds and bats.
Rats are also an important food source for wildlife but many people wouldn't want them close to the house. Gardening is about making choices - what you encourage and what you discourage - how you curate the space. Some people won't be ok with rats, some people won't be ok with clouds mosquitoes. We know both are food sources for those higher up the food chain and we have to decide how to handle that. We make informed choices.
Some people think we should never have outdoor cats as they decimate wildlife - but oh the howls of outrage from the cat lovers.
@SalixGold what animals eat rats? I don’t think adult rats have any real predators in this country.
Barn owls, tawny owls, kestrels, sparrow hawks etc, otters, stoats, foxes ear rats; and wolves would if they weren’t extinct … if human behaviour hadn’t decimated our birds of prey and other wildlife there wouldn’t be so many brown rats … and don’t forget they were introduced to Great Britain by human actions in the 18C … they didn’t exist here until then!
Now my today's wish: to get rid of all the creatures eating my plants. Oh, and in an appropriately environmentally friendly way that upsets no readers.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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And of course … terriers!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."