Kitchen Garden Forum

It was one of those moments on Boxing Day,

One of those moments when I had gone to the plot for a quick visit to get more leeks, parsnip and sprouts for dinner.
One of those moments when you arrive to find you are the only one there and the gate is locked.
One of those moments when you unlock the gate and then notice unusual activity amongst the birds
One of those moments when you realise you have left both your phone and camera at home
One of those moments when you see both crows and magpies constantly attempting to land at one particular point
One of those moments where 6 red kites are swooping low at the same point
One of those moments when you would expect to find road kill being fought over, except no road and no road kill.

On driving slowly round to my plot I established what was happening
A red kite had landed near the front of my plot and was just sitting on the ground, the crows and the magpies were landing a short distance from it and attempting to attack it. They were mobbing it.
Although appearing as if it had been stunned the red kite was defending itself purely by means of facing off its opponents.
In turn 6 other red kites were swooping in on the crows and magpies.
This activity went on for 10 to 15 minutes, when the landed kite seemed to suddenly regain composure and took off towards the nearest shed which it landed on the roof of.
One crow and one magpie attempted to continue making attacks until the kite gained enough strength and sense to take off. One crow followed.

And then it was all over, the kite had made its escape and I was left thinking I had seen another bit of nature in action but had sadly missed the opportunity to video > > > one of those moments.

I seen a bit of nature this morning ,I found 2 of my chickens with their heads bitten off one was in the nesting shed the other was in the pen , I constantly have rat poison down but I think it might have been a stoat or wild ferret

That's the trouble with nature, it can be breath takingly beautiful, or what seems to be very cruel....or i suppose it can be both at the same time, sometimes.

Very sorry to hear about your hens Robo. I have hens too and know how hard it is to lose them to a predator.

Just after I posted the comments above I had a phone call from one of my fellow plotters ,two of them are reroofing a shed near my plot when they heard my chickens making all types of distress calls they went over to find what they think was a polecat running around my pen it had attacked one of the chickens but she survived I've now set a trap as well as placing sticky pads in two places I've had to lock the chickens in the nesting shed and board up the entrance, the guy opposite my plot has found 10 dead chickens in the last week but I very rarely see him so new nothing about it until my second visit

Wow a polecat! Be good to get a pic of that, but not at the cost of the chickens. Good Luck with seeing it off!

Westi

I can't believe it , yesterday I borrowed a large trap off one of my mates down the allotment he lives back to back with his plot we set the trap using a very best st.helens sausage as he lives near the plots he said he would check the trap first thing this morning which he did and low and behold we caught a very angry polecat he then decided to take the trap to his plot and drop it in a barrel of water ( this might sound cruel but this bugger has killed twelve chickens in less than a week) anyway the water was frozen solid so he went indoors to have a cup of tea and warm up meanwhile the polecat was doing a good impression of Houdini and is once again free to kill chickens, the only thing it left was a very nasty smell

Hi robo

If you catch it again I would not tell everyone how you dispose of it, or intend to, unless it is regarded as a humane method.

Drown a rat and I believe you could get prosecuted for cruelty, as daft as that may seem. You can even be done for leaving an animal in a trap too long

Pa snip ,if I had been there at the time I would have taken it for a ride and released It I have a sneaky feeling that's what happened but the guy that's had ten chickens killed was there and I think they don't want him to know it's been set free

And no pictures Robo!

Westi, it all happened before I got there, but I've set 2 off my own traps today if I catch anything ill ask it to watch the birdie, I've already chosen my drop off place well away from any plots

That's going to be a more exciting trip than taking the cat to the vet I would think Robo! Make sure it's very secure!

I suspect I've seen the last of it westi,nothing but a field mouse in the traps today although the chickens were reluctant to come out of the chicken shed even their morning porridge failed to entice them out they are also very quiet no clucking or chirpy sounds nothing from them they don't even chatter to the dog who never takes his eyes off them