Reply to: Garden Wars and Wasps

[SueEllen]

Update - oddly their house prices haven't gone up

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...p-allergy.html
A 'school bully' gardener has lost her battle to overturn an order to pay £200,000 to a neighbour with a wasp allergy who sued her over a tree that kept dropping apples into the garden of her Surrey cottage.

The pair clashed in court after falling out over a series of issues, including Mrs Williams' tree dumping hundreds of rotting apples onto Mrs Pilcher's lawn each season.

Mrs Pilcher had previously been hospitalised after wasp stings and said she was unable to use the bottom of her garden due to the insects attracted by the fruit, claiming she was made to feel 'like a prisoner' in her home.

She sued, accusing Mrs Williams of a campaign of 'creepy' harassment during the dispute and last October won her case when county court judge, Recorder Lawrence Cohen QC, ruled in her favour.

Last week, the case went to the High Court, where Mrs Williams tried to overturn the judgment, accusing her neighbour of 'fabricating' evidence during the five-day trial last year.

But the gardener - who has won prizes for her flowers as a member of Dunsfold and Hascombe Horticultural Society - now faces having to pay out about £200,000 in damages and lawyers' bills after High Court judge, Mr Justice Soole, rejected her bid for a new trial.

The court heard Mrs Williams moved into £600,000 Frensham Cottage, in Dunsfold, near Godalming, Surrey, almost 40 years ago, while Mrs Pilcher bought the adjoining three-bedroom £500,000 Farleigh Cottage in 2010.

[OwlHoot]

Even Wasps have a purpose. Not sure what it is exactly but they must have evolved to do something.

They predate loads of small annoying flies, and midges

[Sue B]

Round here they are a pest. Nearby village has quite a large population, very incongruous to see what looks like a Billy Elliot village with a dozen massive peacocks sitting on walls and houses.

I can imagine! They are amazing, but look so out of place unless they are strutting around some country pile! Don't think it was wild, probably an escapee, as I haven't seen any since then, although once or twice last year I did hear them, so who knows?!

[d000hg]

Round here they are a pest. Nearby village has quite a large population, very incongruous to see what looks like a Billy Elliot village with a dozen massive peacocks sitting on walls and houses.

[Sue B]

We get pheasants too, we even raised a baby one last year. We have wild peacocks near us but I thought we were the only ones, where are you to get one in your garden?

We never have worked out where it came from, there was one just walking down the road a few years back. A few days later I saw it on the roof and then not long after that it landed in the garden. One of the nearby farms was advertising peacock feathers at the time, so thought maybe it was one of theirs escaped? There is also a country estate close by so I guess it could have been theirs....... gutted that i never actually got to see it in full flight though.

[ladymuck]

No creature exists to serve a purpose according to evolutionary theory. It exists because it hasn't died out.

True. They may serve a purpose by virtue of existing (such as pollination) but that is not the reason why they exist.

[d000hg]

Kind of struggle with the thought that every animal whether we see it as vermin or not plays it's part in the food chain somewhere?

Even Wasps have a purpose. Not sure what it is exactly but they must have evolved to do something.

No creature exists to serve a purpose according to evolutionary theory. It exists because it hasn't died out.

[d000hg]

Clever rats!

We dont use poison either, we have nesting owls in the woods and I would hate to be responsible for the secondary poisoning of an owl! Although...... if they were doing a better job of being owls, maybe there would be fewer rats. We have regular visits from pheasants, sometimes ducks and even a peacock has made its way into the garden so I just couldn't risk poison traps. I love nature in all its forms, but sometimes its a massive battle just to keep the produce we grow for our own use, the squirrels strip the apples, and the rabbits eat their way through the veg patch unless i shut it up like Fort Knox

We catch a lot more squirrels than anything else. Sometimes within moments of setting the trap. We kept a jar of peanut butter outside to use as bait, one day we found it half way across the garden with the lid off... hadn't considered they could open the lid! Both squirrels and rats are very smart.

We get pheasants too, we even raised a baby one last year. We have wild peacocks near us but I thought we were the only ones, where are you to get one in your garden?

[d000hg]

It depends on the chicken food. We used to use Allen & Page organic layers pellets, along with corn and calciworms. As far as I know, there is nothing in the organic layers pellets that is an antidote to the rodenticide.

We hadn't heard it either, he might have been talking nonsense. Either way while they could access our chicken food the rats seemed uninterested in the poison anyway!

[Lost It]

Kind of struggle with the thought that every animal whether we see it as vermin or not plays it's part in the food chain somewhere?

Even Wasps have a purpose. Not sure what it is exactly but they must have evolved to do something.

[ladymuck]

One word - Jack Russell. OK two words.

I think you'll find that was seven in total

[OwlHoot]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

One rat was fine, but when they took up residence it started getting silly, we'd see half a dozen of them in the chicken run around the feeder. Like having travellers move in, except the rats were actually quite cute. Well until one got into our house and set off the alarm.

When the bird-flu rule came in we had to make the run secure and suddenly the amount of food being eaten halved.
We favour live-catch traps. Not for humanitarian reasons towards the rats but because we have hedgehogs and squirrels who really like the bait. Caught rats get the firing squad, other critters are set on their way.

One word - Jack Russell. OK two words.

[WTFH]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

It depends on the chicken food. We used to use Allen & Page organic layers pellets, along with corn and calciworms. As far as I know, there is nothing in the organic layers pellets that is an antidote to the rodenticide.

Had a couple of live traps, which were great.
...And my trusty cyclist rifle.

[mattster]

We had rats earlier this year. All of a sudden, we seemed to have loads, to the extent that you could look out in the day and usually see one or two underneath the bird feeders. They also seemed to be nesting underneath the concrete shed slab, with loads of excavated soil and sand. Had to get rid or face shed collapse, so I'm afraid we did use poison (in those boxes) and they were gone within a week. Just found the one deceased in the garden, not sure what happened to the rest (under the shed probably).

[Sue B]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

One rat was fine, but when they took up residence it started getting silly, we'd see half a dozen of them in the chicken run around the feeder. Like having travellers move in, except the rats were actually quite cute. Well until one got into our house and set off the alarm.

When the bird-flu rule came in we had to make the run secure and suddenly the amount of food being eaten halved.
We favour live-catch traps. Not for humanitarian reasons towards the rats but because we have hedgehogs and squirrels who really like the bait. Caught rats get the firing squad, other critters are set on their way.

Clever rats!

We dont use poison either, we have nesting owls in the woods and I would hate to be responsible for the secondary poisoning of an owl! Although...... if they were doing a better job of being owls, maybe there would be fewer rats. We have regular visits from pheasants, sometimes ducks and even a peacock has made its way into the garden so I just couldn't risk poison traps. I love nature in all its forms, but sometimes its a massive battle just to keep the produce we grow for our own use, the squirrels strip the apples, and the rabbits eat their way through the veg patch unless i shut it up like Fort Knox