More About Voles (Maybe More than You Want to Know)
November 30th, 2006 by Kathy Purdy · 4 Comments
This just came to my attention. Barbara Damrosch dishes the dirt about these rodents in A Game of Whack-a-Vole:
No sentiment please. No matter how reverent we gardeners may feel about the web of life there are times when the list of predators must include you.
We’re on the same page, Barbara.
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Categories: Pests, Plagues, and Varmints · Recommended Links
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About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. •
USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural;
Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian
Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level:
intermediate
• Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY
native plants, gardening with/for children
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4 responses so far ↓
1
El
// Dec 1, 2006 at 10:33 am
My chickens LOVE voles. My dogs do, too.
I can’t say they do much damage here with our heavy clay soil, but we have seen them…and unfortunately for them, they’ve been seen. Ugh.
2
Kathy Purdy
// Dec 1, 2006 at 10:41 am
We don’t have a dog but we do have chickens. I don’t have much to do with the chickens myself, but I haven’t heard any reports of chicken-eating voles. They have so much room to forage it is possible no one’s observed them. We used to have a wonderful hunting cat, but she died young of mysterious causes.
3
Don
// Dec 2, 2006 at 12:28 am
Did your cat hunt voles a lot, and then started throwing up and losing weight? Maybe it had volemia. (I know, I know… bad joke).
4
redbrick
// Dec 3, 2006 at 8:56 am
Don, that’s a vole other story! (Ahem, couldn’t help myself) BTW, if chickens can catch them, small furry meat is definitely on the menu. You should see them when they find a mouse nest full of “pinkies”.
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