Deer

[Jenny]

Red deer to be precise! There's little food on the hills for them so they've taken to our gardens and one particular brute is feeding off my birdtable! The dog's going ballistic at night too as it (or maybe they) graze on anything they can get hold of. They don't like bluebells but the veggie plants have been massacred. :mad:

No good sending the dog out - these things will go for it - dog killed down the road - (and humans too)! My friend went out her back door the other day and surprised two, one of whom moved towards her, front hooves flashing! She beat a hasty retreat! :eek:

Is there the equivalent of a catwatch for deer?
With apologies to Bambi fans!

[Kerry L]

I think you have no option but to purchase a deerstalker hat and a shotgun, and when you have enough venison for the freezer, can I borrow you to shoot my pigeons?:D

[Jenny]

Oh, Kerry - offspring is wondering why I'm rolling around on the floor laughing! You have the uncanny knack of making me laugh in adversity! Am I thinking you'd like a source of venision - :) ? But have to be honest - it is easier to hit a large 17 - 24 stone target!!! - than a wood pigeon and I'm now rusty as a shot! :( Don't want them to suffer but have got to stage when some drastic action required!!!:eek:

And a deerstalker is asking toooooo much! ;)

[Kerry L]

Hi Sherlock.
I think such a hat - worn at a jaunty angle, so as not to look too much like you live in Baker Street - would be a must for any country woman! Just don't bother with a pipe - not good for the lungs!:D I don't mind if you are a little rusty, at least it sounds as though you have had a crack at it, and so you can practise on the deer first - and buckshot shouldn't miss the pigeons! They waddle away from you really slowly - even if you jump up and down and shout at them! I don't think a howling, sword wielding Samurai warrior would have any effect on them either! See, I'm getting desperate with the blasted things. When I throw stones, they come back down and hit me instead - difficult to aim so that cars going by don't get hit, or the neighbours! So I shall have to invest in a builders hat! Crude catapults only ping me, so builders gloves required - just call me Bob and I'll try and fix it!
I just thought - this site is "Caring for other Garden Wildlife", and here we are working on their demise!:o
Venison is yummy, except when I have tried to cook it, and I have had a fair few tries with different recipes.:( I haven't tried pigeon pie, but willing to have a go. He man agrees with me, as he is a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall fan (I have objected to eating roadkill - yuk).
I'm off to watch Scuttlebutt now - the mousey thing, who has changed foraging times from 11am to the evening.
Night night
Regards
Bob the builder:)

[Jenny]

:eek: Just had frightening experience - my message has gone forever! Anyway Bob, have you got the right colour hat? Mine's yellow - legacy from the mines but don't use it much now and Scuttlebutt's relatives are happily raising their brood in it - cute really!

Potential dinner visited us again last night but came up against son's friends' tent - entire neighbourhood woken by yells and screams :o ! But my blushes are to be spared - local farmer has been called in by neighbour - most of his cloches destroyed! Hopefully, it will depart after last night's debacle and bloodshed not required.

Got three reliable recipes for venison - best one involves 24 hours marinading in brandy, red wine, orange juice with leeks and juniper berries - yummy!

Have you tried one of those water blasters sold as kids toys on the pigeons? You may get wet, but it's less damaging the stones:)

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny

I haven't tried the master blaster on the pigeons, but that is a thought. I shall have to get a snorkel and mask instead of a builders hat - and then I will have to change my name to Jacques! Getting wet seems to be the norm anyway nowadays, and with this drought, I should invest in flippers for venturing down to the bottom of the garden.:rolleyes:

The venison recipe sounds rather good. Our leeks are only 3 inches tall at the moment, so I need to wait, but venison is a good autumn/winter meal. I don't have any brandy, but even if my cooking fails again, I could be set up for lots of Irish-come-French coffee with some lovely thick double cream floating on the top.:D

After seeing my daughter's outfit for going out last night, I think she would make your deer flee in terror (and probably the rest of the neighbourhood)! "Emo" style, with Widow Twanky socks, Goth boots, and Dennis the Menace mittens with a skull and crossbones on, Emo band T-shirt and black mini-skirt. Hmmm! (Emo stands for emotional - I said she doesn't seem the type - she is more hyper!) Or she would make a great scarecrow! Perhaps I should test her on the pigeons first?;)

Bye for now, regards, Kerry Cousteau;)

[Jenny]

Whoa! Kerry Costeau! Master blaster works - in best tradition, I "phoned a friend" who is as ballistic as you sound. He uses a dirty trick and encourages pigeons by tiny bit of food and then blasts them - they get very upset, leave plenty of evidence of the fright you gave them but do tend to stay away for several days (guess they don't remember after that!!:)

No brandy - what about first aid - only joking;) ! Do you have a tontopf? Not sure if that's how you spell it but you'll probably have guessed I mean a jar where you put odd drops of wines/spirits and left over fruit in to ferment again - lethal stuff (good to trap slugs and wasps!!) - you can use that as marinade as well but beware, sauce will be very strong and taxis required for guests!

:eek:Yesterday mid-morning - red deer stag in garden; smashed two tubs and ripped out fence - deer's okay ! Was going for me and dog and both of us took flight with it after us - at least that's sensible! But panic made up for with Greater Spotted Woodpecker (male) coming in 9 times and getting to see wild otter when driving to pick up a tub for Mum's bay tree!

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny
I had stopped feeding the birds for the past few days. The pigeons only sit around and mope, hoping for a morsel or two. This morning they got me up at 4.30, which would be fine if I was a lark, but being an owl, sleep deprivation leaves me quite bad tempered. So I opened a window and poked the blooming thing with a pole. This was repeated 3 times, and they haven't come back today. I sneaked up behind and poked it with a broom handle yesterday - it thinks it can't be seen in the rose bush, but forgets it makes a noise! I shall invest in the master blaster - sounds a good option, but it sounds mean to tempt it with food first - nah, second thoughts good idea.:D

My in-laws gave me a pot, but I'll have to take your word on the name as I haven't a clue. They told me to put rum in it, but rum - preferably the strongest Navy one I can get hold of - I couldn't bear to put in the pot! We do have some gin that nobody drinks, so that would probably work - sloe gin isn't too bad and it would be similar. As regards first aid - disprins and a plaster! Smelling salts - TCP!:)

I think you may have to invest in an electric fence, like they use in paddocks for restraining the deer. He sounds mean, and he wants your garden to add to his territory. :( We're lucky our local deer run away. Saw a male muntjac for the first time yesterday, just off the A30 near Hook. My husband has seen them before in this area, but I have only seen fallow or roe up till now.

Wish I had been with you with the otters, we have been watching Springwatch, so saw otters on there instead, although not quite the same. Nice programme.

Regards, Kerry

[Jenny]

I like springwatch - got a lot of great coverage up here on Mull last year with the White Tailed Sea Eagles and Gordon Buchanan's programme, plus RSPB's Eagle Odessey (that ain't spelt right, I think!. Seen a lot of Itchy/Scratchy (couldn't make out tags) this year doing the nest watching. May have news of something special (to me, anyway) tomorrow! Watch this space!

Watched Harbour Porpoises in Sound with telescope from home today - brilliant. IT has been back - collected its offering and fed to hydrangea!

Are pigeon tactics still working?

Offspring on school trip tomorrow - he says will get himself to school because Mum's got a on off chance for an lifetime experience! Arent teenagers a contradiction in terms???? :eek:

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny

Saw the eagle episode last night. Did I spot your neighbours' patch of knotweed?;) Still, those beaks are absolutely amazing - bright yellow and they look very lethal! Fantastic birds. I wondered what you meant about Itchy and Scratchy - I had only heard those names on "The Simpsons" - courtesy of childrens' once favourite programme. Hope you had a terrific day out.

Wow, porpoises - you seem to have it all up there! I have seen seals in Devon, and been swimming with sharks years ago in Cornwall - unintentionally (at the time I wasn't aware of them until I got out of the water) - and then we saw the fins!:eek: Apparently mackerel had come in close to shore, and the sharks followed for a meal - so not the placid basking type, more like small ones with teeth, although not the human munching variety - phew.

At least you have found a use for your big pest, at least until he tramples on the hydrangea!

Have had immense satisfaction of sneaking up behind my pests and poking them in the bottom (not hard, just to scare) and now getting better sleep because they are not perching near the window any more (now wondering if a broom handle will work on snoring husband), although the woodpecker comes in early for nuts and complains if the feeder is low and he can't get to them - topped up now, so he was happy this morning! Phase one of renovations under way, so I am using my neighbours drive to park my car. The pigeons (now usually perching on next door's roof) saw me walking across and flew away. The other day my daughter banged on the window to try and chase them out of the garden (no luck), but when I came to the door, they immediately scarpered. Perhaps the message is getting through! Still haven't got a squirty gun yet, but I am thinking of using it on myself at the moment, just watered the greenhouse with the rainwater and it is baking in there already.

It is nice when your children come up with something unexpectedly good. I was amazed when my son returned home soon after going to catch the school bus, asking for a lift to school because it had broken down - and he hates school! A lot of the other children disappeared thinking "yippee day off, mum's at work so she won't know", and my daughter attempted to catch the late bus with a friend. Unfortunately for her it is the same bus that does a double trip, so I picked her up on the way (her friend was not so eager to get to school). He is doing his O'levels now and has officially left school, and is almost human again.:)

Oh well, guys are asking for a cuppa, bye for now
Regards, Kerry

[Jenny]

Hi, Kerry, glad to hear tactics are working. Wish I could say same for Bambi - yet another night with dog leaping on/off bed whining (he barks if left downstairs and damages the hardwood windowsills and doors! Forestry refuse to help me (and neighbours and one's much worse off than me!) and Council will simply insist on deer fencing (you don't want to know the cost of THAT!) plus add planning permission costs on top! Sadly, Bambi is now a serious danger so I suspect, unless we can shoo it out, it will be the shotgun - well, rifle, and one of the guys (expert shot) will come and take corpse up the hill for the eagles, etc. So we're all trying to encourage it out!

White tailed sea eagle chicks from Loch Frisa were tagged on Monday morning and I was there! Absolutely awesome. These chicks are about the size of a two year old and the beak is about 2 inches long - you don't want to know about the talons - they can do more damage! Their tags are yellow H (that one laid very quietly and sulked for some time after going back in the nest!) and yellow O - very feisty - was hissing loudly during the process and attacked Justin (the guy who climbs up to the nest, catches them and lowers them, cleans out nest (so we know what they're eating - hare, fulmar and goose seem favoured diet this year) and put them back)) when let out back on nest. 05/06/2006 is a date I will not forgot - it was just so brilliant to be there having gone through 6-8 weeks of agonies watching the nest and new chicks!

BTW if you didn't see Springwatch last year, Itchy and Scratchy wouldn't have made sense - they were names for last year's chicks from same pair and we had Simon King up here filming. If you want to see more pix search for Mull Bird Club and click on "sea eagles". It's our local pollis sergeant who takes most of the photos - he's licensed. He's selling photos at the hide to raise money for heart start machines all over the island (it can take two hours to drive 40 miles here!!) and has already raised enough for two and well on way for a third - his target was one!

You and yours are going to have to visit Mull - you can see seals daily on the main road (ahem, it's our main road, but partially single track!). Two Golden Eagles were high over the house this afternoon and saw a Goldie up close and personal this morning at friend's house. But we sometimes miss out on birds you get and I miss!

Must go - have put off the final coat of paint on hall for 2 hours and I must finish tonight.

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny - haven't had much access to computer - competing with hubby (usually commandeers this room as he works from home), and daughter (who dropped laptop off her bed and can't get internet link) and phase one bathroom installed, so I have been sanding down walls and wood and filling cracks so I can paint it. Must complete this week - German exchange student coming last week in June. Also it is so hot the computer switches itself off (this is the second try at a reply)!
Your day out sounds absolutely wonderful - I am green with envy!:D What big babies, just how big are the eggs? H sounds like number one son, and O sounds like number one daughter! Perhaps O was the second to hatch? I guess that parents must have been away for some time - did you have to wait long for them to leave, and did you have to make a hasty exit (young beaks and talons sound fearsome - wouldn't want to argue with an angry parent)?
When I was a lot younger, Simon King appeared regularly on a Southern TV programme, accompanying his dad around the New Forest area. I remember he always drew pictures of the wildlife, and for his age, pretty good too. I think he is either about the same age as me, or I am a bit older.
I haven't looked at the Mull bird site yet, but will do when I get more time to spare - way to go Sarge! Hasn't he done well?!:D
Pigeons keeping safe distance from me now aha! Now it is a woodpecker and one baby who wakes me up now. The baby squawks, whistles and chirps, while parent is on the nuts (which sounds like a kango with vibrations too). Just to show it's parent how good a woodpecker it is, the baby has been pecking - or drilling - at the metal bracket that joins the pergola to the wall! However noisy, they don't bother me at all. Parent very skittish, so have to be sneaky to get a peek at them, slightest movement and they're off.
I guess that when Monarch of the Glen was painted, the deer was stuffed! Sounds like a good deal for the eagles! Sad ending, but if something isn't done soon, someone could be hurt - they might have dainty little feet, but an aggressive hoof is far too dangerous! Didn't anyone tell Bambi his main job was to be cute to people and only squabble with other males?
I know narrow roads very well, I learn't to drive in the New Forest (and Virginia Water - not so narrow). For my 10th birthday I was allowed to drive my dad's car on one of the rolling plains in the New Forest (Sway, also had great trees to climb) - ponies at a safe distance. His poor A40 was not the same after that! Now the fields are safely blocked off from everybody. We used to be virtually the only ones there, if you saw 3 cars in the same place, that was a crowd! I have seen horrible things where drivers have gone too fast in the Forest. The ponies used to congregate outside my grandparents house, but cattle grids were put in 3 miles up the road for the animals safety, so rather sad for eager little girl.
You seem to have the big powerful birds in your area - do you get snow buntings? Here, I do like watching the buzzards soaring above and calling to each other they are so graceful. Actually I am just fond of wildlife.
Oh well, must do ironing while it is cool. Mull must be on the list of things to see one day. I like the sound of the roads - he man panics at the sight of grass growing down the middle of the road! I am great at navigating and short cuts along single tracks are my speciality - besides there are better things to spot along them, rather than main roads(he man would disagree, his eyes firmly fixed on the winding track!).;)
TTFN, Kerry

[Jenny]

Sarge has made three machines now and halfway to the last one! Great guy!

Took brother in law and sister in law to WTSE hide yesterday - was asked if we'd cover the break between tours and brilliant sighting - chicks and Mum on nest at one point); trouble at nest with buzzards so Mum yelling for Dad who comes swooping in and drew buzzards off who then mobbed him for about ten minutes along ridge by hide. He disappeared and second lot of buzzards started so Mum did same! Wow! Relatives on safari today so trying to catch up with washing done two loads but washing machine has just made ghastly noise and stopped. Refused to drain so laundry room flooded - so p'd off have come on website whilst it dries. Now have a huge load to riinse and will be w/out machine for two weeks - wanna bet???

Deer has been encouraged to leave - we did a noise session the other night and it departed up the hill aways - hopefully, as now food up there, he and his mates will stay there. Doesn't look good for next winter though. He did manage to trash two tubs en route BTW.

Loved mental pic of he man. When you get here you must take him to Carsaig. They have resurfaced it so no grass and heather up the middle but it does have a very long descent with very few passing places and a one in three drop on one side with no barriers of any sort - great fun!!!!! Better go and deal with damage. Cheers, J

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny
I do enjoy a good dogfight double, usually it is a rook, or large bird tackling the buzzards here, but the other day I was chatting with a neighbour when there was an awful racket above us. It was a sparrowhawk with two tiny birds in hot persuit. They were squawking, and he was just trying to get away, it looked a bit like the fly past with the Lancaster bomber, Spitfire and the Hurricane - great formation flying! Yours must have been like watching a Jumbo Jet and an Airbus (I mean sizewise, not for beauty or aerodynamics - although the guys around here manage to throw a Chinook chopper around as if it were a small craft - and the blighters buzzed me once cross country, I could swear I could see them laughing out the side doors when I ducked!):mad:
So Bambi has headed for the hills, at least no one got hurt, and all's well that ends well, except for repairing all the damage caused. I am surprised all that was needed was a lot of noise. If it happens again, get the local rock band to have a practice, or have a rave (not the sort where you lose your temper with the deer)! You would be very popular with the youngsters.:cool:
I am a firm believer in the balance of nature, and there you go, one minute euphoria and the next back to earth because of a poxy mechanical failure! Sometimes life really sucks, although in your case - spitting it out all over the floor!;) Happens to us all, so I sympathise (now I'm sucking up after being rude) two weeks without a washing machine is awful.
He man doesn't like heights either, ha ha! Sounds a good route! He is taking number one son and his mates to Alton Towers to celebrate the end of their exams early in the morning (house full of smelly teenage boys - windows definitely open!). I shall be left with the wonderful Madam Mim, who is on a sponsored "24 hour fast" for starving people, somewhere or other. I give her until lunchtime - she loves eating (and she is skinny)! I shall be trying to finish the bathroom. Exchange arrives on Wednesday :eek: I'm not ready!!!!
Goodnight, Kerry

[Jenny]

Not ready for visitors - sounds like our house! :) If he man is scared of heights and little roads with grass up the middle how's he going to cope with Alton Towers? Mind you, sister in law wasn't too keen at doing 70 up the forestry track the other day when we were so late - it's interesting have a slide in a 4x4! They left yesterday morning - don't think they'll see too much of Skye as it's low cloud and rain - still the plants and the tadpoles are happy but it might have held off till I got their washing line dried:rolleyes: ! All pretty quiet on bird front - usually is this time of year - lull before second broods appear. Just ever so slightly miffed (but really delighted) to discover wren's nest in old shed - thought only robin's did this - the snag is she's parked herself in an ideal spot for her, but next to and supported by an essential piece of garden equipment - it's so sweet though, haven't the heart to shift her! I shall have to cope with the electric strimmer - I hate it!

Dog has recuperated sufficiently to chase off two seagulls today - he's also quite hyper. He keeps diving into one overgrown corner of the garden (well, building site) and is eating bits of a plant. I have decided to shoo him off until I can get dolled up in in my holly, nettle, bramble fighting clothes to find out what it is. If he's going to indulge in illegal activities, he really should wait till the magic mushrooms appear - I have loads of 'em! :o However, am all squared up with the pollis because I ain't got a hope of getting rid of them without killing the wildflowers and that's just as illegal...:eek:

Modern technology is a source of continual embarrassment - though on this occasion my so good at DIY, etc. brother in law also couldn't find problem. Sandy, the lecky man, rolled up early Thursday and diagnosed problem - the pin part of a man's watchstrap. As the trouble started just after I'd washed son's friend's fleece, I am firmly convinced of the culprit! For all the ghastly noises and refusal to drain, it had managed to do no damage until the last minute and Sandy, the lecky man, turned up trumps and had just the part I needed. I could not have coped without the washing machine - even though I've got a posser that makes handwashing much easier and efficient! I hope Sandy didn't catch on why I didn't ask him to put the machine back, though. He's notoriously scared of four footed furry friends with tails and I now know why Tigger the dog is sooooo interested in the smells around that object! Sister in law was on table, whilst brother in law and I caught it, shoved it in a box and transported it two miles away. I did let it loose in appropriate habitat but it also happens to be in close proximity to a property belonging to someone I'm not too fond of - who never, ever gets mice. I wonder if her sqeaky clean and fanatically sanitized house is why her children are always down with something and they've all got allergies!

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny
Thank goodness for Sandy, saving the day! You naughty girl, transporting meeces to not nice ladies! I agree with the sanitizing of things - number one son had everything disinfected (except he did like to eat the carpet) and by the time number one daughter came along - it was like . . . whatever. She is tough and he is the allergy boy!
How's the abseiling?
Bathroom finished in time - just curtains to make, and the fabric has just arrived from Wyoming! It is just like that advert, such a relief to get rid of that hideous bath! He man very pleased with new colour and my design, a bit old fashioned, but not too much.
We're of to the Purbecks tomorrow (taken note of ticks) with our young German girl. Thankfully her English is quite good, can't say the same for our German, though I know the words for slugs and snails! Hopefully there won't be any nasty ticks where we are going, but you never know, and of course rabbits can spread them just as easily. Thought Corfe Castle would be good (great for hide and seek) and Kimmeridge for fossils. Back to Studland for BBQ on the beach, and bacon for the crab hunting (not to eat, and we won't eat the crabs either). Lots of nature along the coast, lovely butterflies and flowers - also naturists along one part of Studland - no we're not going to that part!!!!
He man (actually, Wimp man would be more appropriate) dropped boys at Alton Towers and then explored the area, found a National Trust place to visit and went to sleep in the car! Great time had by all. I carried on painting then played board game with the Mim to keep her mind of eating. She did her fast and has raised £25 for some poor kiddies in Uganda.
Number one son has just been caught red-handed helping himself to a can of coke, and had the fright of his life! Madam Mim and our new friend have gone to a party with the other exchanges - hence time out for me!
Just off to water veg and get bitten by gigantic mossies, then must make picnic for tomorrow.
Happy mousing for doggie
Take care with the (arghh! why did I hit that button by mistake?) knotweed
Regards, Kerry