Well, these really are making a nuisance of themselves round here. Perhaps they really are delightful creatures/birds and truly deserve their place on the planet, but why do we have to have quite so many. AAAAAAARGGHhhh…
The cormorants turn up in squadron and help themselves to the fish, diving all day in the lake. They roost in a couple of trees by the side of the lake which end up white and in a poor state because of all the excrement on them. The coypu are breeding like the proverbial and if you go on a stroll at dusk, you can disturb whole packs of them that scoot off into the lake like slithery eels. Unfortunately they dig into the banks and in the end whole chunks of it floats off down to the spillway, to lodge there until removed.It makes the banks unstable and is dangerous for the tractor at bank grooming time. I suppose we should be grateful in some way as they are the world’s super grazers – they are vegetarian and certainly keep the grass down.
We are not completely heartless 😉 but did apply to the DDE for a licence to exterminate some of the cormorants. A couple of chaps from the local hunting group come round at the weekends to take pot shots at them, I don’t know how they have got on… The coypu need trapping and removing – our neighbour used to do it but he has stopped now he is older and confined to the farmhouse, shame.  Or we could always start a fur farm and make ‘terrine de ragondin’ … mmmmmm, apparently there is a restaurant further south that specialises in coypu only dishes, as I said mmmmmm…
