The cunning of crows & moles

 

Greetings!   Is it a murder of crows they call a flock of the black birds? Well, if it is, I could certainly have come to that in the past few predawn mornings this week as I have been bought awake by some cawing of epic proportions.   I may have told you before, but the gable end double height glazed wall to the bedroom that occupies the top floor of The Mill was something of an obsession for the architect who persuaded me that such fripperies as curtains would, in true modernist speak, damage the aesthetic.

 

In that, the late Huw Thomas, a beloved architect of our current King, was correct. At night I have a magnificent view of the stars, those of the shooting variety a common sight. In fact, a couple of years ago one came so close I was convinced it that come to earth in the field adjacent to the lake. I did wander out the following morning in the hopeless hope of finding some scorched puncture in the meadow, but unsurprisingly, to no avail. Actually, I knew it was hopeless but I have found a meteorite here before. When we were excavating into the slope of the downland opposite The Mill to build the office the digger exposed in the bright whiteness of the chalk a meteorite that had penetrated deep into the surface. had left a damaged trail through the otherwise perfect chalk to the iron meteorite itself, the size of a large apple, from which radiated a rusted aura staining the chalk around this celestial arrival of probably many millions of years ago.    Of course, the flip side to the stars at night is the sun at dawn so I have little need for an alarm clock, especially when the crows are in their current mood. I could not believe it on the first morning as the flock, high in the skies, just kept coming and coming. I have no way of counting but the murder, travelling west to east, filled the sky for some minutes both as one huge, continuous moving group plus straggler groups following the same path, apparently joining from some slightly different direction. I hesitate to say it was thousands of birds, but it had to have been, them all cawing back and forth to each other as they travelled in some purposeful direction but to where, I do not know.   It seems this flocking in large numbers is something crows typically do, gathering before dawn to head to the feeding spots, the congregation a giant morning mix-in that exchanges information as to where those best feeding spots are. Clearly at this time of year, when crops are limited so will be the options for the crows which may explain why I have only seen them for three consecutive days. Today, there was not a crow to be seen. I guess they have ravaged all there is to ravage and headed off in a different direction.

 

 

Of molehills and men .....   I think you might agree this looks like the ultimate f**k you from the mole who has managed, somehow, to perch the unsprung mole trap atop a newly minted molehill.   I must admit I do not get much pleasure in trapping moles but these days the options are limited. All the chemical treatments are restricted to trained operators and what we used to call ‘mole bombs’ that smoked out the runs are long banned. We do have a mole trapper in the village, who seems to be on permanent contract to the graveyard, but since he traps like I do, employing him seems a bit of a cop out.

 

Trapping moles is far from rocket science. Simply locate the underground burrow (run) between two molehills using a thin spike, the run is usually just beneath the turf. Then use a trowel to cut a slot in the turf, before putting your fingers into the burrow to ascertain the precise direction of the run. At this point I will let you into the super mole catcher secret: before inserting the trap use a wooden T-handle to tamp down the floor of the run and smooth the sides, the thought process being that the mole, appreciating the easy passage, will be guided more easily into the jaws of the trap. To that point, insert the trap into the run precisely aligned with the direction of travel.   The final action is to keep out the light from the run. Do not cover the slot with soil which will otherwise spill onto the trap and reduce its effectiveness. Instead, use some matted grass to form a carpet over the trap and around the handles. Once you are sure it is non-permeable cover with loose soil. At this point you are done excepting leaving a stick to mark the position of your trap.   There are all sorts of myths surrounding mole catching: age new traps. Use odourless oil to lubricate traps. Wear gloves. Do not wear gloves. A new moon is the catching moon. It is a long list. I, for one, wear gloves pretending that I am masking my smell but in fact it is just for keeping my hands clean for our village mole man, many more times effective with the moles than me, never wears gloves.     And then there were about five   Yes, it has happened, our lakes have been stripped of trout. With well over a hundred before Christmas we are now down to a handful of jabbering wrecks.   With all other food sources at an annual low point, the two otter pups who are on the way to adulthood, who I assume are the remnants of the summer family, are old and skilled enough to plunder the lake nightly. If you do the maths you can see how the numbers quickly diminish: we are 45 days on from Christmas. Each otter eats two fish a night …….   Do I get angry or frustrated? Not really. I got a little sad a few weeks back when our special blue rainbow, a two year survivor, was left dead, abandoned and uneaten on the bank. Odd that the otters would not eat it; they never leave any others. But on the whole I just view it as the cycle of life that some must die for others to live. And it keeps the fish farmer in a job!

 

Sole survivor .......

 

 

Quiz   Back to the normal random collection of questions inspired by the events that took place on this date in history or topics in the Newsletter.   Answers are at the bottom of this Newsletter.   1)       Who beat British heavyweight boxing champion Joe Bugner in Las Vegas on this day in 1973?   2)       What is the average lifespan on a crow in years? A) 3  B) 5  C) 7  D) 9   3)       Which country took the impact of the largest asteroid to ever hit Earth?

 

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

 

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

 

 

1)       Muhammad Ali 2)       7 years 3)       What is now South Africa c. 2 billion years ago