My Gardening Philosophy (reasons I enjoy gardening part 4)

Grey squirrels are seen regularly 

You might think, given the previous post, that I would consider wildlife to be more of a problem than a benefit. But this could not be further from the truth, it is the joy of being outside close to nature and all the wildlife that makes gardening such a pleasure. The geography of your garden, the habitats you provide and the wildlife havens close by your plot can bring into your space a huge variety of creatures. Every rest break gives a little opportunity to be still and listen, then to look around and hopefully to glimpse something wild, natural and heart warming. "Our task must be to free ourselves. By widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Albert Einstein.

another visitor and predator

I am sure that some people might consider it paradoxical that you might want both cats and wildlife in the garden. It is an undeniable fact that cats will both deter and diminish the population of some species. Alarmist media reports are prone to exaggerate the levels of predation, often quoting flawed and inadequate studies, such as the Peter Churcher and John Lawton research. This is based on the prey brought home by 70 cats over the period of one year, the results of which where then erroneously extrapolated for the whole of the country. The fact that the sample was entirely rural village cats and only consisted of such a very small sample makes it seriously unrepresentative. However, the media prefer to perpetuate the myth of the natural born killer. The "prey" brought home would also include a significant proportion of scavenged creatures, many of which would certainly be the victims of plate glass windows, RTAs and other non feline causes.

It is not unfeasible that Hecate and Mili will bring back a present or two. But Hecate is far from agile and struggles to manage the steps up the garden let alone chase down a rapid moving small mammal. Mili does well for her age but she undeniably has vision which is less than 20:20 so would have a difficult time catching most creatures but the odd spider should beware.

Sparrow Hawk another predator on the front lawn