Monday 23 July 2007

Island Weekend

Inspired by another piece about threatened butterflies in The Times this weekend, I made a start on the wildlife island sanctuary that will be my mental and moral salvation. My children and I set out bravely and steadfastly into the wilds of those abandoned six acres we intend to transform into Eden. I can't say in all honesty we achieved very much beyond consumption of marmalade sandwiches and other such Enid Blyton delights, but we did manage to survey the plot, and we now have a serviceable map of the fields.

There are fences to remove, ponds to dig, trees to plant and wildflowers to nurture. Lots of work, all of which I expect to be entirely therapeutic, even if the current expectations of my excitable children leave me somewhat exhausted this Monday morning. My youngest wants hedgehogs, my oldest deer. And my son, bless his uninherited genius, wants a fully self-sustaining ecosystem of carnivores, herbivores, parasites, saprophytes, and a dozen other biological components I had never heard of.

Any advice from people who know about this stuff will be most welcome.

2 comments:

Bernardo d'Orey said...

My ex

Bernardo d'Orey said...

My experience tells me that when you let nature do its role, it is very competent. Just be aware of cats if you have any, they are merciless killers, and will kill all birds and beasts they will find. If you want to put in larger mammals also great but be aware they need space to breed, and possibly some feeding. I wouldn’t have boar in confined space. They will play havoc with your fences. Small mammals yes, larger ones I would be careful.