1 EAGLETON NOTES: The Solution - I Hope

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Saturday 19 July 2014

The Solution - I Hope

Yesterday, and most of today, the weather was as perfect as it can get on Lewis.  The sun shone, the heat heated, the zephyrs gently caressed us and the midges, flies and clegs disappeared from whence they usually come.  All was well in the world - so far as the weather was concerned anyway.  So over the two days I've repaired paths, cleaned and repaired the UPVC porch and part of the study, cut hedges, weeded, and when I was sitting having a coffee break and indulging in some rare thinking I realised the solution to The Seagull Problem.  It occurred to me that the gulls dive into the pond and then need space to fly out of the pond itself.  So this should, I hope, be enough to thwart their efforts:



I will still have access to the pond and area around it and, hopefully, the goldfish will be safe.

24 comments:

  1. That is so cool. What a great idea! :)

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  2. Hmm. How exactly does that work, GB?

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    1. Frances it stops (that is the mesh stops) the gull accessing the deeper part of the pond which has no plant cover for the fish and is where the gulls aim for. They don't just drop into the pond they are large and if they do come down they will see that there is no room for them to dive in and then get out again in the unnetted part.

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  3. Looks like a great plan...hope it works well.

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  4. Very clever, and the shape of the wood is pleasing to the eye, it is to my eye anyway!
    I was amazed at how much more aggressive the seagulls have become in Eastbourne, we saw one swoop down and take a whole sandwich off a plate when we were at a hotel restaurant. (Of course, it was an outside table! )

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    1. Kay the seagulls are very aggressive in areas where people feed them or leave lots of litter for them to scavenge. People forget, too, that the Black Backed Gulls are not only naturally vicious (they will kill new-born lambs) but very large (the wingspan is nearly a yard across) and not easily frightened.

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  5. Good luck. It will be interesting to see if it works.

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  6. With the great garden you have it's a wonder that you have time to think. I hope this plan works. Just remember the birds are twice as smart as we think they are.

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    1. Red I rarely think. I've found that it hurts too much. Friends over the valley have spent ages trying to outwit a Hooded Crow which raids their bird table.

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  7. Hope it is as good in practise as it is in theory.

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  8. A very good idea, and I do hope it works!

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  9. I originally read that as the zephyrs gently caressed us with the midges, and thought how poetic!!

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    1. Not usually one of my attributes VioletSky. I will take your comment as a compliment.

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  10. Clever idea, hope it works for you!

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  11. How ingenious. You have the creative ability to think around the problem constructively.

    If only it were so simple to stop seagulls nesting on buildings! I was in Scarborough recently and in parts it really was quite dangerous to walk along for fear of droppings from the scores of birds that had built big dirty ugly nests on the ledges of some of the buildings!

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    1. I'm fortunate< Jenny, to have inherited the practical gene that runs in the family. Would that I had also had the academic gene.

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