Something drank my beer bait and it wasn't slugs or snails...

Bournemouth, England
August 28, 2018 11:32am CST
As an organic gardener I avoid using chemical pest control. This can be a real challenge, especially with the huge numbers of slugs and snails that emerge to eat my young vegetables after it has rained. Two methods I use are putting slices of fruit like melon around as decoys so that they find this a more attractive proposition than eating leaves, and beer traps, which are plastic containers sunk into the ground. The idea is that the slugs and snails are attracted in by the beer and then cannot get out again. I have never drunk alcohol but I do have a ready supply of beer because I used to do a part-time job where customers would donate cans as gifts for the staff every Christmas. When I announced what I planned to do with mine, my boozy colleagues were rather baffled. Both methods can be very effective. This morning I discovered that there had been a lot of activity in the garden overnight. The soil around a tomato in a tub had been dug up, probably by a squirrel. A melon decoy and an old gardening glove had been dragged to the bottom of the garden. The glove had been well chewed. I can only assume that this was done by the foxes that visit regularly. My home town is the urban fox capital of the UK. Most puzzling was the fact that a beer trap had been pulled out of the soil and emptied. Its lid was some distance away. Were the foxes and squirrels partying? Was our cat responsible? (I am sure we would have noticed him staggering and slurring his meeows) It's a mystery and all I can do is refill and replace it and see what happens next (see picture). Does anything mysterious happen in your garden overnight?
17 people like this
9 responses
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
28 Aug 18
Best thing to do I guess is install a CCTV camera, it's gonna solve the mystery and you might even make some money from the video.
3 people like this
• Bournemouth, England
28 Aug 18
Good idea! We have very popular shows here called.'Springwatch', 'Autumnwatch' and 'Winterwatch' which consist largely of filming animals and birds at night.
4 people like this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
28 Aug 18
Old Brock, perhaps?
2 people like this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
30 Aug 18
@asfarasiknow If it wasn't glowing dully, probably safe to assume impact with a vehicle, yep.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
2 Sep 18
@asfarasiknow I think my "get up and glow" went out years ago
1 person likes this
• Bournemouth, England
2 Sep 18
@pgntwo No, it didn't look like the kids on the old Ready Brek commetcials!
1 person likes this
• Preston, England
28 Aug 18
saw a lot of urban foxes in Greenwich - really nice creatures - maybe you should install cctv to capture their drunken antics, and make them buy the next round
1 person likes this
• Preston, England
29 Aug 18
@asfarasiknow one stalked me on my way to my hostel once - I was wondering if I'd get away with stroking it if it got closer but I'm glad I never took a chance
1 person likes this
• Bournemouth, England
29 Aug 18
They are beautiful and can appear here in broad daylight.
1 person likes this
• Bournemouth, England
29 Aug 18
@arthurchappell I went on a school day trip to Calais in 1976. At the time there was a lot of panic about rabies from French foxes. I walked around petrified even though we were only there for a few hours in the busy town centre.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (80736)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
29 Aug 18
I do not have a garden anymore since I arrived in Daytona Beach, Florida. But my friends in the house I live in do have a garden but they do nothing with it and there are palm trees all over. In your case perhaps one of the foxes had a birthday party
1 person likes this
• Bournemouth, England
29 Aug 18
You could be right. A very late night one.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
28 Sep 18
my big brother who has a house in UK complains about a fox that often comes to his garden and disarranging and destroying plants and flowers.
1 person likes this
• Bournemouth, England
28 Sep 18
It's lovely to watch them through the curtains. On the other hand, they can be noisy and they do leave their deposits all over the garden.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
30 Sep 18
@asfarasiknow my brother was able to capture the activity of the fox in his garden, but he does not drive it away or endanger it
28 Aug 18
Are they also being upgraded? Advance ey.
1 person likes this
@amirev777 (4117)
• India
28 Sep 18
I am not an avid gardener. But I tried growing kitchen spices, but it didn't work, probably due to my lack of knowledge.of gardening and surely not from any mysterious happenings like those you mentioned.
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
6 Oct 18
Maybe the foxes since they are nocturnal. You need a camera with night vision
@dgobucks226 (35737)
5 Dec 18
My guess is the squirrels needed a little refreshment after a long day of burying nuts. I have squirrels who enjoy the rain water which collects in my backyard fountain.