by Ice.Maiden » 04 Jun 2013, 16:09
Hiya. Hope you're enjoying your week off work. I posted to you on here last night ... and lost it somehow! So, here goes again .....
LOL - had to laugh about your cat scarer. As you've found out, they still don't prevent cats from coming onto a nice part of your garden and doing their business, but, there are multiple things you can do to deter them hun. If you plant borders of rich-smelling herbs around your lawn/s, cats don't like that.
You can put chicken wire on top of your fences/gates. Cats won't climb over it, and there are loads of sprays which you can buy to repel them, although those are short-lived ones really. Cats don't like orange peel or coffee grounds, so you could dig some into the area where they tend to come in, and failing all that, you could always install one of those little gadgets which give off a high-pitched noise that us humans can scarcely hear.
Your badgers. Aww, hun, they're not the monsters you make them out to be. Wire won't keep them out. They can burrow down like foxes can, so if you put wire up, you need to base it right down in the soil - probably by 18 inches or so. An adult badger can also push over a mound of stones which weigh over 3 st., and cause walls to collapse, so foundations have to be deep.
Your best bet's to put food out for them, in a particular corner or side of your garden. That's all they're looking for, and as badgers can mate during every month of the year, where you see one, there are probably lots more. They like peanuts, which're cheap enough, so if you know it's a badger that's visiting your garden, put a dish out for them. Once they've eaten, they might snuffle round for a bit, but they'll soon leave without spoiling the rest of your garden, but if you come into contact with one, stay away from it. They can be quite fierce, and especially if they have babies nearby.
You're right - badgers and their setts are protected by law, so please don't go putting traps down which could not only horribly injure the animals but others as well. However, some farmers and landowners've now been allowed to cull badgers on their property, but they have to be shot humanely by trained personnel, and only during certain months of the year.
The idea is to deter the badgers from digging up your vegetables and lawns, so follow this tip hun - you can divert their attention by putting down cooked potato scraps, peanuts and dried fruit. Don't feed them milk or any form of meat. You put the food down for them every few days, not all the time. That way they'll look around for another source of food, away from where you've left their dish. Remember also, that they do some good in your garden - they eat slugs, snails and pests which attack your plants, so try and look on them as friendly beings, rather than enemies. : )
Fact of the day: When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour!