Exterminate the Americans!

[london1967]

For Adrian and I it's been a day of pottering together in the garden and pruning, before the rain started.

The clematis armandii at the front is in full bloom and there are quite a lot of other flowers already: hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, camelias, etc. I'll take some pictures tomorrow, weather permitting.
The peony that Fiona, Adrian's sister, gave us has, for the the first time, one big, fat bud and we are very much looking forward to seeing it bloom.

This morning we watched the squirrel retrieving a monkey nut that it had previously buried, and photographed it while enjoying its snack perched on the bird bath



Squirrels are cute, despite not being much more than rats with fluffy tails that damage your garden.
Apparently, since 1930 the law demands that any grey squirrels that you may trap are not released but killed (humanely).
Why? Because they are American!
There are 2.5 million of grey squirrels in the country and they threaten the survival of the indigenous red squirrel (only 140,000 left) because they are too aggressive. And they carry the pox!
It's all explained here.

Comments

[arktos62.livejournal.com]

Yes, they're cute but deadly to the poor red squirrels. I hate the idea of killing any animal, but the greys are in danger of making the reds extinct.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Said that, I am not quite sure that I could kill one.

[gryphons-hole.livejournal.com]

Such a wonderful garden!
More, please.

Funny thing: I finally got to painting the walls in the studio.
A great warm grey. It's called... wait for it... Squirrel.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Oh my! Grey squirrel walls! Do you need some fur on those walls? LOL!

Thanks for the compliments on the garden! We have 3 pocket-sized gardens: front, size and back. You can see some pictures from last year here.

[gryphons-hole.livejournal.com]

Incredible gardens.

The only thing I miss about my last relationship was the yard. The gardens were just starting to settle in...

I have no yard here whatsoever, but I am visiting the idea of a small herb container garden across the bank of windows... I think I need grow lights to manage it, but maybe soon.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Cheers Gryphon!

The herb container garden sounds great: nothing like some fresh, homegrown herbs.

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you what, you send us back the grey squirrels and we will give you back the damned sparrows! :) Gorgeous photos though and as always, your garden is amazing!

[london1967.livejournal.com]

That's a deal! LOL!

Thanks Tommy: glad you liked the picture.

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

As always, the gardening skills you two possess are breathtaking. The next time you take afternoon tea in the garden you might provide us with some photographs so we might all salivate. :) I really wish that we could afford the extra time to make a stop in London during our trip this summer, but the concert schedule has us flying directly to Vienna and then straightaway to Budapest. We will come back though, I love London, and when we do I would surely like to see the two of you. Hugs.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much Tommy!
Last year we never really got a chance to have tea in the garden as it seemed to rain all summer. Hopefully we'll get some nicer weather this year.

It's a real pity that you cannot visit London this time. Maybe next year? It'd be lovely to meet you and Morgan!
*hugs*

[timbear.livejournal.com]

We have a friend who has a humane squirrel trap, a handy drain, and a shotgun. She also has rather a lot of notches on some piece of wood somewhere.

Living in the country has a different dynamic ...

[london1967.livejournal.com]

And does she cook squirrel stew? ;-)

[saintcahier.livejournal.com]

I'll worry about squirrels once we get rid of those damn pigeons!

If I weren't worried about being lynched by a mob of econazis I would just put my Cruella DeVille wig and kill them personally.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. I hate pigeons!

[paulintoronto.livejournal.com]

Here's a picture of our garden, taken the day after you took yours, to show you why I'm a bitter, bitter, frozen Canadian.

[london1967.livejournal.com]

My goodness! And to think we haven't seen any snow this winter.
Hope it'll all be gone by September!