I have noticed that the local magpie gang has been very interested in crowding under my car. At first it was one or two but today, eight of the avian dinosaurs flew down and crowded under the car. I was wondering what on earth they could be interested in, so I investigated. They all flew off as I approached and I looked under the car to see if I had collected a dead badger or something under the chassis. No road kill, BUT THEY HAD BEEN STRIPPING OFF THE UNDER-SEAL! The two long weld seams where the sills join the floor pan had been raggedly stripped of under-seal, just where I don't want it and just when I don't want it. All that was left was some ragged shreds just right for collecting salty water during the winter and start rusting the underside. I am not happy: they eat my peas in the summer and they eat my car in the winter. I have not checked but I doubt that my insurance covers me against avian infestation. I will ask the Skoda dealers where I bought the car (call it bird food) to check the damage and get it repaired, but what can I do next? I am sure that they will be back. Has any one else been attacked by maggers?

I think that Magpies are one or the most intelligent of the birds that come into our gardens, and they look amazing, but they are thugs as well as everything else, like eating all possible food put out in feeders for other birds. When any birds flying into our windows and lie stunned, if there are any Magpies about, they will swoop down and pull any "grounded" birds to bits and eat them - not nice to see if you are too late to stop it!

 

Squirrels aka "tree rats" are another source of annoyance as they defeat any "squirrel proofing" that specialised bird feeders have - we have some with feeder tube within a cage, I've placed that within a "squirrel proof" cage and fitted it with a "squirrel proof" hood - no luck there, squirrels just position themselves expertly and launch themselves on to the outer cage and tilt it with their weight and at the same time that tilts the inner cage and spills the birds seed out!

 

Mice, small field mice, after having no real trouble for about 20 years in this house - ie field mice come into the garage in winter, knaw at soft stuff like pipe insulation, no doubt for nest building and that is that, we live and let live, no real problem, well that is until a couple of weeks ago!  My S4 and wife's new Polo live in the double garage, I'm looking after daughter who is abroad's Ibiza and it is parked on driveway, so far so good! A couple of weeks ago, I happened to look under the bonnet of the Ibiza - the light weight foam that stops under bonnet air escaping along the car was nibbled on both sides, that was annoying, a day or so later I noticed that my mechanics mat was nibbled very badly, that was even more annoying, a day or so later I looked under the bonnet of my S4, same thing there - war was then declared on field mice family! First I bought 2-off plastic traps and baited them with sultanas, next day one dead mouse in one trap, I disposed of it over the fence (for recycling), next day one dead mouse in the other trap, it was disposed off in same way, so out I went and bought ultra sonic pinger with built in electrical injector of pulses into the ring main + satchets of bait that smells of aniseed (draws them in to eat the bait?) + 4-off extra traps + a jar of crunchy peanut butter, all traps now have crunchy peanut butter in them and I left a small lump of peanut butter elsewhere, just in case them wanted to try my sample first - since them there has been no evidence of mice in garage, or if they are, they are eating elsewhere and just nesting in the garage.

 

It is not too good when small animals attack your car as it can become dangerous if they attack the wiring and/or flexible brake lines.

Well..... I took my Fabia in to Silbury Skoda at Cramlington where I bought the car in April and told them about the maggers. They put the car up on a ramp and invited me to have a good look underneath, which was quite an opportunity (I was interested to see where the exhaust pipe outlet was amongst other things). They said there was no sign of damage to the under seal and nothing to worry about. So that's a relief, even though I felt  a bit stupid. I thank Silbury for taking me seriously enough to put the car up and checking the underside and showing me. However! The birds are are very interested in the underside of my car and I am convinced that they are up to no good. I have bought a roll of duct tape and I will put tape over the long weld seems and see if that stops their little game.

Little barstewards!

Know the feeling to some extent though only in my old house.

1930's end of terrace....once upon a time thatched and tile roofed in the 60's due to a fire.

We had mice...a fecking lot of them for a while......i think we killed about 14 of the things before we got it under control. One got its ass and leg caught in one pf our bigger rat traps.....didnt stop it....it knawed its own foot off and hobbled away spraying mouse blood over our loft hatch....was horrific....we caught that one a few days later.

We baited up there too and of course some took the bait and scurried off and died never to be found.

Then we had flies.....I cant remember the variety but they are apparently the ones that nest and via genetics will return again the following year.

Luckily my brother in law is a professional pest controller so I got some good gear to sort it out....but its a bloody pain.

Edited 26 November, 201510 yr by pipsypreturns