Field of Science

Friendly to wildlife but no reciprocation

Our estate has been designated a wildlife friendly "yard" and certainly it provides cover and shelter, water, and food.  Here in the last category is the problem; wildlife and the Phactors disagree about what is for wildlife consumption. Generally some fencing and and other restrictive placements help with the definitions, but what with all that is provided a bit of reciprocation would not be a bad thing. OK for the most part house plants outside for their seasonal R&R are off limits, but TPP forgot how little bun-buns are at the outset, so a quite small bunny able to fit through 2" fence ate an orchid, not just a nibble, ate it down to the base.  Then there's the strawberry problem. Someone doesn't wait until they even ripen, so you don't stand a chance, and the bed is pretty well fortified, but someone found a way in, one of the tree rats probably.  A good country-living friend has a strawberry bed that looks like a well-fortified prison camp, and a raccoon still helped himself to every berry available. Unlike deer at least raccoons leave the plants. What TPP desires is for some top predators to know how friendly our yard is if they wish to eat some herbivores, and although mostly the birds understand what is for them and not, Mrs. Phactor says the herons can stay away from her lily pond fish. 

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