The Night Mail

[figworthy]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I don't know about scaring crows, but if anyone knows how to scare squirrels, I'd like to hear it.

 

In her younger days, next door but two's Labrador was quite effective at keeping their place tree rat (and pigeon)  free.  Sadly such things are a bit energetic for her these days (she's 14).

 

Adrian

[simontaylor484]

Our dachshund goes mad for tree rats and chases pigeons like mad 

 

 

I lost a load of alliums and daffodils to the squirrels when I replant which will be next year I will be putting plastic netting over the bulbs which will.be drift planted

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi did say growing them in pots with grit was the only solution though slugs climbed up some quite tall pots (with feet too), crossed the gritty stuff and ate the first lot of courgette plants Aditi had grown before they were big enough to move into the garden veg bed. So it is possible the local slugs are more energetic than others.

 

I'm sure there must be slugs here but I can't remember when I last saw one. Snails seem to be fairly common. Sometimes we find little tree frogs in the potted plants and they will help to keep the pests under control.

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Poop poop and nee naw if you are doing Wind in the Willows where Toad gets pulled by the Fuzz.

I didn't know toads had any fuzz?

Edited October 10, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Tony_S]

32 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Our dachshund goes mad for tree rats and chases pigeons like mad 

 

Our spaniel was very fast and nearly caught a few squirrels. He once jumped straight up and knocked a pigeon out of the air. He then just stared at the pigeon. I picked it up and put it in a tree. It eventually flew away. I don’t think it was the chasing that deterred the rodents. Robbie the spaniel dug up nuts they had buried and urinated on them. Squirrels have only recently started visiting the garden again. We won’t be having another dog so will just tolerate the squirrels. 

[PhilJ W]

12 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Isn't politics in Wales otherwise called Rugby?

 

Good morning from a bright, sunny North Hipposhire . The local political hot topic is that there is an election next Thursday for a town councillor in our ward. It's so hot that until voting cards for Jill and me arrived a few days ago we didn't even know about it. Of more immediate concern to me is that I have to go for a Covid test tomorrow morning in preparation for a second go at having the nasties removed from my schnozzle on Thursday. 

 

Here's a political joke.

 

Q. Why is there no recorded instance of a shark attacking a politician?

 

 

 

A. Professional respect.

 

 

Will that get me banned?

 

Dave

 

 

[PhilJ W]

11 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Something has reduced the local wood pigeon population by one overnight. There is a huge pile of feathers in one corner of the lawn this morning. 

Probably a sparrowhawk, there's quite a lot of them around.

[PhilJ W]

11 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

ISTR Sherry's nearby village of St Marychurch has an annual competition for scarecrows, as I have no doubt do other communities. They appear in shop doorways and the like.  No doubt Covid has nuked these in recent times.

I visited a village once that had a scarecrow competition. I sat down on a bench for a rest and won first prize.

[bbishop]

58 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I don't know about scaring crows, but if anyone knows how to scare squirrels, I'd like to hear it. We have a plague of them at present, digging furiously in the lawn for items known and unknown and digging up potted bulbs to Bury them elsewhere. They clearly lack joined-up thinking on the subject, because you might think that retrieving them once from the plant pots, as required was the easiest thing? It does occur to me that the recent drain flooding, which appears to have repelled the local.fox or foxes, might be part of the answer? 

 

Canus JRT.  My one was bred as an Exmoor farm terrier, so was fast and manoeuvrable and had an aversion to vermin.  Tree rats gave our garden a wide berth.  The down side was he liked digging and had feet like shovels.  Bill

[pH]

35 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I'm sure there must be slugs here but I can't remember when I last saw one.

In addition to regular-sized black slugs, we get these:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Banana_Slug

 

Their range includes Idaho, so you should probably be able to see some.

[laurenceb]

Putting copper tape round plant pots is supposed to deter slugs

[Dave Hunt]

Our Labrador once caught a pheasant. He was trotting along rows of piled up stubble in a field when the bird, which up to then had been invisible, suddenly leapt up in front of him and took off. Unfortunately it took off straight towards him and as it passed over his head the dog reared up and grabbed its neck in his jaws, which ended its career there and then. He dropped it, looked surprised and turned round as if to say, "Did I do that?". I took the pheasant to the farmhouse and the farmer, whom I knew, just said, "Looks like you got yourself dinner then."

 

Dave  

[laurenceb]

If it wasn't for the breeding of them for shooting pheasants would probably make themselves extinct, there is no more stupid bird.

[PhilJ W]

When I went to Barbados the hotel was a series of cabins set in a garden. One night I saw a dark shape on the wall. Switching on the light I saw this enormous slug, about six inches long. When I mentioned it I was told that they are quite common out there.

[Dave Hunt]

We really do need a Yuk button sometimes....

 

Dave

[PhilJ W]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

We really do need a Yuk button sometimes....

 

Dave

One of the other guests got out of bed and put his bare foot on one.

[Dave Hunt]

See what I mean?

 

Dave

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

 

Canus JRT.  My one was bred as an Exmoor farm terrier, so was fast and manoeuvrable and had an aversion to vermin.  Tree rats gave our garden a wide berth.  The down side was he liked digging and had feet like shovels.  Bill

My daughter's Labrador did far more damage to our garden than squirrels have ever done, apart from the size of his paws they don't kill flowers by piddling on them 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Fowlets must have employed some mighty salesmen. I remember seeing a pair of Fowler ploughing engines parked in a factory yard in Benguela, Congo: abandoned there in the 1960s during the civil war and still there AFAIK

Indeed, I have a photo of those engines being erected in the middle of the jungle in the Congo, I'll post it later.

 

Edit: as for them still being there, I'm not sure as Congo has some pretty scary scrap metal dealers. I'll check interationalsteam.com and see if he has anything. Its also very possible they have been repatriated, several engines and parts have come back from Mali in recent years, including a very rare german MAN engine.

 

Edit 2: "A Fowler ploughing engine survives at the Kwilu-Ngongo sugar mill, the picture by Scott Jesser was taken on 21st October 2014 (1st October 2016)."

 

 

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/rollers/display.htm?page=rollerindex.htm&bookmark=Congo1&photter=Scott_Jesser&image=pics16/drcongoengine16001.jpg

 

Looks to be in pretty good condition, most have the smokebox rotted out from rainwater along with half the front tubeplate. The front wheels look a bit depressed, but its mostly there and would probably only take about 3-5 years to get running, the main time being spent on finding the motion which has absconded. This is assuming the boiler has no major problems.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

3 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Fowlets must have employed some mighty salesmen. I remember seeing a pair of Fowler ploughing engines parked in a factory yard in Benguela, Congo: abandoned there in the 1960s during the civil war and still there AFAIK

Btw, there doesn't appear to be a Benguela in Congo, but there is one in Angola. If you can give me rough estimate of where the factory was in the city I can probably find them if they're still there using satellite maps.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

One of the other guests got out of bed and put his bare foot on one.

When you are on exercise in Kenya, you are warned to check the floor before you get out of your camp bed and also the inside of your boots before you put your feet in them.

 

I used to keep my boots inverted on two long sticks.

 

Bitis arietans is not your friend.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

8 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Btw, there doesn't appear to be a Benguela in Congo, but there is one in Angola. If you can give me rough estimate of where the factory was in the city I can probably find them if they're still there using satellite maps.

This looks mighty suspicious, unfortunately I can't get a higher resolution.

 

 

 

There are also confirmed to be engines abandoned in Catumbela Angola.

 

 

 

 

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/tales/angolatales02.htm

Edited October 10, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

When you are on exercise in Kenya, you are warned to check the floor before you get out of your camp bed and also the inside of your boots before you put your feet in them.

 

I used to keep my boots inverted on two long sticks.

 

Bitis arietans is not your friend.

 

My boss was posted to Borneo when in the RAF, working on Wessex.  He said that pretty much everything wanted to kill you in that place, especially at night.

[Dave Hunt]

Way back in the stone age 1969 I was sent on the jungle survival course in Malaya and like HH we were told always to check our boots before putting them on. One morning a chap in my group laughingly said something about not forgetting the daily boot inspection and shook his upside down. His grin evaporated when out of one of them fell a scorpion.

 

Dave

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

My boss was posted to Borneo when in the RAF, working on Wessex.  He said that pretty much everything wanted to kill you in that place, especially at night.

Borneo is pretty tame compared to Australia, where everything - including the plants - wants to kill you (slow or fast, Ma Nature don’t care)

 

During one holiday in Malaysia we had planned to go to Borneo, although a chance encounter with a wee beastie on a Malaysian beach put paid to that. After the skin on a big toe had peeled off, it was thought unwise to go into the jungle. Anyway, I digress. In reading up on how to trek through Borneo I learnt that 1) leeches are the tax you pay for visiting the jungle (unpleasant as they are, leeches don’t carry disease and are harmless to a healthy adult); 2) predators/snakes/spiders will avoid you if they can (but sea snakes, whilst shy, have a venom which will dissolve you from the inside out and sometimes are found upriver); 3) beware the tiny ant - an encounter with an ant column can really ruin your day; 4) wild water buffalo are perennially p1ssed off and should be avoided at all costs.

 

Much as I admire David Attenborough and envy his travels, there are some wild life encounters where I think - thank goodness it’s him and not me…