Today I shall be Mainly...

[Tripps]

The ultra sonic solution is a bit hit and miss

I don't intend to be always negative, but google says that is more than true.

"However, most scientific studies have found few or no signs that commercially available ultrasonic pest repellers actually work. Researchers at Kansas State University tested three devices in 2002 and found that none were able to repel ants in field or laboratory trials. Similarly, researchers observed no effect on bed bugs in a 2012 study that tested four devices or in a 2007 experiment involving German cockroaches and two types of mosquitoes.
Note that even the best ultrasonic pest repeller will not solve the underlying cause of pest problems. It will not eliminate the food sources that critters find appealing or the way they got into your home in the first place. As a result, you likely need to use other pest control methods simultaneously to address an existing infestation".


I'd be speaking to a local pest control guy - you can't be the first to be bothered. From experience - food and access are the keys. and traps or poison may be the answer. Subject of course to local regulations. Or Stanley's method.

PS Seems a similar idea works to deter teenagers. Quite how they describe it as ultra high frequency, and ultra sonic, when the frequency falls well in the range of a young human is beyond me. The Mosquito The price of £500 plus VAT seems a bit steep though.

[Big Kev]

I bought an 'ultrasonic' cat deterrent several years ago, it stopped the local cats using my front garden as a toilet. It had the additional bonus of annoying teenagers and cost around £30 on Amazon.

The local 'yoof' told me they could hear it

[Stanley]

That's a good bit of research Kev!
I shall be in the shed for an hour as usual. All cooking done except for my sweet potato chips so I might fry them this morning..... Otherwise take it easy.

[Sue]

The ultra sonic solution is a bit hit and miss

I don't intend to be always negative, but google says that is more than true.

"However, most scientific studies have found few or no signs that commercially available ultrasonic pest repellers actually work. Researchers at Kansas State University tested three devices in 2002 and found that none were able to repel ants in field or laboratory trials. Similarly, researchers observed no effect on bed bugs in a 2012 study that tested four devices or in a 2007 experiment involving German cockroaches and two types of mosquitoes.
Note that even the best ultrasonic pest repeller will not solve the underlying cause of pest problems. It will not eliminate the food sources that critters find appealing or the way they got into your home in the first place. As a result, you likely need to use other pest control methods simultaneously to address an existing infestation".


I'd be speaking to a local pest control guy - you can't be the first to be bothered. From experience - food and access are the keys. and traps or poison may be the answer. Subject of course to local regulations. Or Stanley's method.

PS Seems a similar idea works to deter teenagers. Quite how they describe it as ultra high frequency, and ultra sonic, when the frequency falls well in the range of a young human is beyond me. The Mosquito The price of £500 plus VAT seems a bit steep though.

Morning


We have done everything that is advised. Pet controllers do not deal with this as the problem is too intermittent, and the price is horrendous, we have used them a couple of times to get rid of hornets nests. As for the ultrasonics, we do have some plug ins that have been very successful against mice and some battery operated ones that we keep at the door to stop cats entering. They too have worked, but we are aware they are not always successful. What we don’t want to do is poison them. If they die in the roof space we will have a dead rotting animal to deal with. As for food, they like fruit which is in abundance at the moment, and the access point we are convinced is straight up the wall which the can climb vertically and in under the open eaves. That can’t be blocked and even if it could we would need a roofer to do it….say no more. We have been waiting over two years for a roof repair

All the advice followed has come from official sources, and apparently the ones that really work are noise and naphthalene as they can’t abide the smell, but good old EU banned naphthalene in 2008. Camphor has been suggested as an alternative but we can’t find it in any shops. We can get it online from Amazon fr but postage and import duty amount to over £20, and would take three weeks, hence asking our friends to bring some from the UK. We use to bring it for our friends Audrey and Mike as a mouse deterrent .

Last night all was calm and the window cill is clean. We did a late clean up and disinfect of poo on the window cill near where we think they are getting in under the eaves. Bob then put down the cat and dog repellent powder, which smells atrocious to our human noses, but didn’t put them off in the roof the other night. Its not a remedy we can use when the room is used because of the smell. Every time we went in the room yesterday we banged on the roof with a window pole to disturb THEIR sleep, which we did do once. If we can just get them to dislike our roof space even temporarily we will feel happier when we have our friends staying. We await this mornings camera shots, which hopefully will show us an actual entry point. Meanwhile Bob is making an intermittent light that he will fir into the roof space, with electronic scarer as well.

Today Laetitia and family are coming for lunch, it will be an indoor sit down affair. Its been too wet to put up the outdoor gazebo. A bit of socialising will be nice. No rain forecast now for a week. Have a good day all.

[Sue]

Ps, if all else fails we will have to try a commercial company to see if they will put a trap down, but from our reading a trap is placed at an entry or exit point, so how do you do that in open roof eaves, and I doubt they would go in one placed in the roof space. The space is so large they could just avoid any obstacle and walk or RUN round it

[Stanley]

There's no doubt about it, it's a knotty problem! I think you'll win in the end but it's a rocky road isn't it.



Slowly forward with fitting the top bearing caps. Slow because everything had to be refined, the size of the clearance holes in the lugs, the clearance for the nots, the length of the threads on the studs (This latter made more difficult because I must have had a bad batch, two of the studs sheared in two as I was threading them and had to be replaced.)Eventually I got them fitted and drilled for the other two studs. At closing time I had just one more to thread. That's for tomorrow!

[Sue]

It certainly is Stanley, or should we say a Stoney road Nothing on the camera this morning, except a lovely little hedgehog walking across in front of the door.

[Tripps]

I have looked into this creature a little today. Pine Martens Seems they are rare in UK and found mainly in Scotland though someone is trying to reintroduce them into England. Seeing one was considered a treat on shows like Blue Peter. You are quite privileged. They are a protected species, and I find that one can be adopted for only £20!

They mark their territories with faeces (known as scats) deposited in places where they are conspicuous to other martens; they are frequently left along forestry trails.

Let's hope they don't have an eye on your loft to make a 'nest'. Can you easily inspect it and if so - take action to persuade it to go elsewhere? They are said to travel up to 5 miles in a night.

They never mention this challenge on "Homes in the Sun"

[Sue]

I have looked into this creature a little today. Pine Martens Seems they are rare in UK and found mainly in Scotland though someone is trying to reintroduce them into England. Seeing one was considered a treat on shows like Blue Peter. You are quite privileged. They are a protected species, and I find that one can be adopted for only £20!

They mark their territories with faeces (known as scats) deposited in places where they are conspicuous to other martens; they are frequently left along forestry trails.

Let's hope they don't have an eye on your loft to make a 'nest'. Can you easily inspect it and if so - take action to persuade it to go elsewhere? They are said to travel up to 5 miles in a night.

They never mention this challenge on "Homes in the Sun"

Its a Stone Marten not a Pine Marten, but still rare, and still a nuisance. Its commonly found in old buildings . We can get in the loft Bob has been in Several times over the years, the Stone Marten first appeared during lock down, as we were seemingly an old´abandoned housé then ! Bob went up there 5 days ago, cleared a load of poo and put several smellies down including cat and dog repelent pellets. He is up there as I write fitting a light on a time switch, and ultra sonic devise. We are concerned because stone martens are solitary and are only in pairs in the mating season which is now. It is a long gestation period so if we can get them out now we may prevent the nest scenario next Spring.

[Tripps]

Its a Stone Marten not a Pine Marten,

Sorry - I got that wrong. They seem quite similar though, but it seems yours likes fruit more than the other.


Good luck with your efforts to evict them.

[Sue]

Its a Stone Marten not a Pine Marten,

Sorry - I got that wrong. They seem quite similar though, but it seems yours likes fruit more than the other.


Good luck with your efforts to evict them.

Yes very similar. The light and ultrasonic devise are installed

[Stanley]

"They never mention this challenge on "Homes in the Sun"
Here in Barlick we don't have stone martens in the attic. However we have a workshop in the shed and I shall be in there for an hour with my engine this morning. The rest of the day is free, I don't have to do anything except put the bin out!

[Sue]

Morning

Following a pleasant day yesterday we had a rather cool night. Its been cool every evening, needing us to layer up with a jumper from about 8.00pm, we have even resorted to an electric blanket in bed for half an hour every evening to take the chill off but last night we had to put a light weight bed spread on as well as the summer duvet was too thin by itself. I cleaned the bedrooms yesterday and made sure all the beds have a blanket available if wanted. I doubt the portable air coolants will be needed!

Laetitia and family came at 12.30 pm, and left about 3.00 pm. It was a convivial meal , and these days we can manage quite a conversation in French. There was a time when after an hour we were exhausted. After they left, I did my cleaning and a bit of weed killing using kettles of boiling water. Bob did the alarm and light in the roof space which we switched on immediately. All was quiet last night and the window cill is clear.

This morning we have a mist sitting over the fields, a very September type of morning. We are off to the market at Questembert about 20 miles away. Its a lovely village, big market, with the food section in an open mediaeval market hall. We shall have a browse and a coffee and watch the world go by. This afternoon, I hope to finish my gardening, then this evening I shall be doing zoom yoga.

The forecast is good and warming up. Have a good day all.

PS, I forgot to say we went to visit Roland on Friday afternoon. He is well though looking very thin. He is a bit forgetful and a bit deaf but we managed to chat and have a joke for longer than we intended. We always go with Nicole as when she is with us it helps to keep the conversation flowing. We shall visit again before we come home

[Stanley]

Morning Sue... Nice to hear such a positive report and I hope the fact that you seem to have has a Sine Marten free night is a good omen for Bob's counter-measures! You do look after Roland, it's lovely to hear of your visit.
At the moment we have a clear sky and full sun which is at odds with the forecast.



Late into the shed due to domestic matters but I finished tapping for the studs and fitted the top brasses. Once they were on I drilled the oil hole and cut a pocket in each. Then put some tackle away, reinstate the normal cutter on the mill and tidy up. A good three quarters of an hour!

[Sue]

I always think it looks hard work Stanley, it is amazing how metal can be shaped and worked

[Stanley]

That's the fascination Sue, we take rough castings or bar stock and refine their shape until they fit our plan. It's working out how to get there that keeps me going..... I always have something I can spend time thinking about....
Just think of how you have to do the same thing with your patterns, a piece of cloth is your equivalent of a casting or a piece of iron bar. You have to modify and refine it until it is capable of becoming a garment.

[Stanley]

I have been for a walk and a sit. The Barlick in Bloom gang were working there and they pruned the branch of the shrub that was stopping me from sitting back in the corner of the form. As a bonus they gave me a bunch of rosemary they had cut from the bed.

[Sue]

Lovely morning out. I bought a pretty perennial plant to replace a dead one, and a decent cabbage at last. 2.99 euro, cheap for round here. Orange shown for size comparison

IMG_0767.jpeg

[Tripps]

A similar cabbage in Tesco today would cost 65 pence or about 80 euro cents. Savoy cabbage

Ironically - one of the possible countries of origin is France.

Possibly a long awaited benefit of not being in the EU?

[Big Kev]

Just got a Savoy cabbage in Aldi, grown in Lincolnshire. 69p

[Sue]

Just got a Savoy cabbage in Aldi, grown in Lincolnshire. 69p

Yup thats what we thought but last week they were half the size and 3 .99 euro, so definitely a bargain. As we will be cooking for 7 by the end of the week any bargain is gratefully received. Its funny you should say about advantages of Brexit Tripps, thats what Bob and I said

[Sue]

As a matter of interest how much is a melon

[Tripps]

I just finished what was left of one of these with my breakfast this morning It was cold and delicious. Cantaloupe

[Sue]

99p, they are about 2 euro here . Usually sold as 2 for 3 euro

[Sue]

It just demonstrates what I have been saying for months that prices here are extortion. The question is , why ? I haven’t even shown yup the meat and fish prices .