Clear off wildlife

Wow, you are all so lucky. New Zealand has birds and I love them to bits. We have a bell bird at the farm at the moment which is a real treat, as the native birds have been pushed out. During the winter we have fantails and they are amazing acrobats - they flit thru the horses legs when you are riding and will (very) occasionally perch on your reins for a nano-second.

Heron, magpies, swallows, pukeko (a swamp bird about the size of a chook), paradise ducks, quail and an occasional pheasant as well as the usual finches, sparrows and starlings are all welcome at mine. Not so welcome are the feral cats, but they 1080 (poison) the near by pine plantation for possums (an introduced pest that pass TB onto cattle), so that deals to the cats as well.

Rabbits ,yes, but the population varies and yes rats, who like to move into my shed during the winter. I wouldn't mind sharing, but they make such a mess, I have no choice but to put out poison. NZ's only native mammal is a bat and everything else has been introduced, sadly at a cost. My only gripe - ducks doing vertical take-offs out of the ditches - scares the cr*p out of the quietest horse.
 
I too am in the like to have the wildlife around me. We have lots of birds of prey and ducks, coots (as we have a pond) But only gripe is the damm mice! Ive never had them at previous yards and some have been working farms also. I dont want to kill them but I do want rid from my feed room!
 
It's only pigeons and pheasants that annoy me, they know we're coming for ages but they still wait until we're pretty much on top of them before taking off in an explosion of fat feathers and leaves, causing my horse to spook. They do it every time! And they sit in the road talking about whether they should get out of the way when I'm driving
 
Tell me about pigeons! In the last 2weeks I have seen no end of squished ones on the road! Yesterday I was driving pigeon flew off from the car infront flew back down in front of me, flew off again and flew down in front of the car behind which was a very close call!
 
I ran over a squirrel yesterday, couldn't avoid it, made me feel sick. Also why do pigeons sit in the road until you are right up to them and then fly into your windscreen ! Havent seen any squished hedgehogs for a years, and apparently we are down to a million now.
 
Penny Less said:
I ran over a squirrel yesterday, couldn't avoid it, made me feel sick. Also why do pigeons sit in the road until you are right up to them and then fly into your windscreen ! Havent seen any squished hedgehogs for a years, and apparently we are down to a million now.
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I have a fair amount of wildlife around me, only seen 1 hedgehog (alive) this year, but old horse has a swallows nest and his stable and I think they have had 6 babies - I love them. It has been very hot and dry and there has been unusually large quantities of wildlife - hundreds of butterflies, thanks to my weedy banks around the paddocks, some I have never seen before, yellow ones, small blue ones and many brown ones I struggle to identify. Humming bird hawk moth in the garden and loads of horrid mice, I have had to poison them as I am getting some hay in next week.>
 
Penny Less said:
I ran over a squirrel yesterday, couldn't avoid it, made me feel sick. Also why do pigeons sit in the road until you are right up to them and then fly into your windscreen ! Havent seen any squished hedgehogs for a years, and apparently we are down to a million now.
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I saw my first hedgehog in years yesterday but unfortunately it was squished :( The other week there was a pigeon in the road which promptly stuck its bum in the air at me and refused to move even when I beeped at it.
 
I'm sorry to admit that I had to banish the swallows from my stables last year, I fitted fruit netting as a ceiling in each box so that they couldn't land anywhere while the top doors were open in the evenings and shut the doors up when the neds went out in the morning. There were an awful lot of them trying to nest and making a horrendous mess that sticks like glue, some have gone to the old sheds down the yard and that's fine, and some must have gone elsewhere now as none of then have come back this year. I'd be very happy if the ruddy rabbits would bog off as well, too many holes and diggings everywhere but hubby now has a gun......:)
 
NZJenny said:
NZ's only native mammal is a bat and everything else has been introduced, sadly at a cost. .
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Oh I love bats! We have gazillions here and I love watching them flit about. I saw one up cold and personal a few weeks ago, it kind of swooped up in front of me so we were face to face for a split second, that was interesting :lol:
 
FionaM12 said:
I adore wildlife. I'm thrilled when the swallows come back, and love it if they choose to nest in Mollie's stable. They come all the way from Africa to do so, and I find that amazing and exciting.

The mess is of no consequence. Why be around horses if you don't like a bit of poo and mess? :)
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Yes very true
 
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