Plan B

The rat poison was only nibbled when I checked today, but that may not matter any more. Plan B has been initiated. Rat nemesis is winging its way towards me right now. More later ...

Smart

I hadn't checked the rat box for a couple of days. Overnight a hard frost and a light cover of snow left a very different-looking site. The box was empty, but there were no footprints in the snow at all, so the poison must have been taken before the snow fell. However, how did they know not to return last night?

I added some more poison and walked around the site. There were no vehicle tracks in the car parks and no footprints to be seen. I quite like the effect of the snow and the frost might curtail the weeds for a while.

Feeding time

Modern laws about poisons have removed various pesticides from sale for ordinary folks. The result of that is entirely predictable: rats have become largely immune to rat poison available to the general public. If a mixture of poisons were available and used in rotation and sometimes together immunity would not develop, but now that immunity is widespread we have no chemical tools available to kill vermin without breaking the law. I'm not going to break the law.

You may have guessed by now that rats are still taking the poison I put out. The poison is a coating on grains of wheat, so if the poison is not affecting the rats then I am simply feeding them grain.

I need a legal alternative.

False hope

All of the rat poison was eaten when I checked today. It was especially cold and windy today so I refilled the tray and left quickly. I took a spool of wire home, but that's a completely different tale.

Getting somewhere

The wind was bitingly cold and there was still some frost in the shady parts. A puddle was all ice. As I arrived pigeons flew off from Gary's plot and I saw the netting had blown off from his purple sprouting broccoli, so I covered it up again. I checked the rat poison and it was untouched. Maybe I'm getting somewhere against the rats.

I pulled a few weeds up. They are mostly groundsel with some flowers even in the winter. Grass is also showing signs of germinating too. It feels too early (and cold) to be digging yet. If I turn the ground now I would have to do it again before planting, so I'll just pull a handful of weeds as I see them.

Tidy up

A quick visit to plot 18 this morning was a pleasant one. The air was cold and calm. The bright winter sun lights everything with a warm, yellow glow. I watched as a female kestrel hunted along a hedgerow, diving out of sight to find a meal and listened to the verbal ding dong of two great tits warming up their song for spring.

I placed a better rat box that keeps the poison dry and away from all but the vermin. I secured it with a couple of pegs into the ground and put a brick on the top to keep it in place as more strong winds are forecast, but only what I'd expect in winter.

I looked around the green house where there were a few pots and a couple of trays that need washing so I brought them home. The whole plot looks untidy with a low cover of weeds, so a slow dig is needed soon to prepare for spring, but there time for that yet. It's also a good time for weeding under the fruit bushes as there's no leaf cover to get in the way and to hide the thorns on the gooseberries.

The gooseberry and blackcurrant cuttings are doing very well. If they continue to thrive I may chance moving the main bushes next winter as the cuttings will be my backup in case of lost plants or poor crops - blackcurrants do not like being moved. I have some loganberry cuttings at home too, I hope they grow in the spring to add to my fruit crops.

Take your fill

I've checked the rat poison I put out every day and it was nibbled, until today. The tray was empty and upturned. Maybe the rats are back, if so they took a bellyful of poison away. The tray is refilled, let's see how much they take tonight.