Skip to main content

Mole eradication






Here in our little part of South West France we seem to have a lot of moles, people spend vast amounts on trying to get rid of them- traps, bombs, poison and tubes that make a vibrating noise are a few.

As we don't have an cricket pitch lawn and we live in the country we don't fret at yet another mole hill coming up through the grass. We did have an adopted German Shepherd, Bella left by the previous farmers who was an amazing moler with a quick snap they were gone. Milo and Franklin never got the hang of moling they were always too late but never less would proceed to dig up the mound left so not only did we have hills, (which the moles work hard making excellent finely tilled earth for potting plants) but large holes (which had to be filled in by the hills).

But now we seem to have new molers of the feathered kind, probably not a nice way to go for the mole but at least they made a meal for a few fowl. Yesterday morning while clearing up around the farm I saw one of the chickens with a dead mole. Not sure if it was dead before hand but made for a   flurry of running chickens as they followed the chicken with the gourmet nugget.

Later walking through Gorgons field there was the old duck with something in his beak, yep a dead mole. Not the same one (it wasn't as mangled as the first!) I then watched as it tried to swallow it, it took a few attempts but he got there in the end. The thought of having to perform the Heimlich maneuver on a duck did cross my mind as I stood and watched for a few minutes, no chocking so I guess it went down.

So those chickens and ducks are not that endearing, yes they do eat slugs, snails, worms and bugs. Small birds have been seen in beaks, mice and small rats go down well too. We once had a duck hatch out a clutch of ducklings under a pampas grass,  very cute I invited our gite guest to come and show his toddler son as we then watched the mother swallow a duckling whole. "do they do that often" he asked. "not that I'm aware of" i replied. I guess it was natures way of eliminating the ones that are not going to make it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rabbit proof fence

In the hope of not loosing anymore greenery in the veggie patch today was spent today taking down an old fence which was put up around eight years ago. As it had a few holes in it this could be where  the rabbits are getting through. On the other side of the fence a chicken run was constructed were table chickens grew to a really good weight until we got a batch that had been, what we think were contagious with Mareks disease. Subsequently we stopped using it for chickens putting a litter of pigs in the area to get them use to electric fencing (which they did). It has been left empty for around 18months now with Gorgon and the girls have made break trough's through it last year gaining access into the veggie patch but now there's a lot of weeds. On the other side of the veggie patch is another old holey fence which has now got the recycled one that was taken down put in front of it, new posts and a trench dug to lower the wire in, earthed up and stones put on top

Happy cattle

For five months the cattle have been eating hay twice a day but today was their time to go back to pasture, they were more than ready. With two loads in the trailer going to La Contie the rest, the naughty but nice ones stayed at La Singlarie. Calves are on green grass for the first time following the herds around. Now for Spring time jobs to get started - so much free time for farmer J. Fencing, tidying around the farm, getting machines ready for hay cutting, getting the gites gardens ready for Summer and a new bathroom to fit, his feet won't be touching the ground.

Parisot lake

As it is a holiday today here in France (Bastille Day) we took the afternoon off an popped over to Parisot lake for a walk with Sorrel. It has all changed, since the lake was emptied and cleaned up this year you can now swim in it, as well as inflatable toys to play on, a life guard, bikes to hire, a new fenced in play area for small people and a total spruce up. But there is a price we were charged! 3 euros an adult, which I guess is OK if you are using the facilities but Sorrel didn't fancy a dip. The cafe is still open but that would of been too much for Sorrel to cope with being so close to people and music so we opted for a bench to sit on in the shade before walking around the lake. Sorrel opted for being Billy no mates and laying by herself, if be it for a short period of time before bikes and people went by. We are now waiting for the free firework celebrations over the chateau tonight - if we can stay up that late.😃