Tag: Coypu Saga

Obsessive About Coypu – Moi?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

The little buggers came through the electric fence and got shocked as evidenced by a disturbed fence. They tried for an alternate exit and failed. They got shocked twice. So they are getting acustomed. The less expensive option before buying a 2.8 Joule energiser is to put in an extra barrier. From the tracks in the mud it was the Coypu twins last night.

This what they do to our lotuses. Taken this morning.

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Last year they were deterred and we had a magnificent display of lotuses. We need deterrence before spring.

So I laid another strand of defence right on the river bank where they come in.

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They will get double whammy before they get to their dinner.

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Two shocks in quick succession might deter…

Otherwise I am going to start looking on line for some second hand lasers and mirrors…

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Gandalf Likes Chicken Jalfrezi…

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As part of the morning routine, I take any waste and the coffee grounds out to the composters. I usually leave the pot and the cafetiere there and go to check the marker / witness sticks around the pond. We need to get the coypu situation sorted before the lotuses start.

Yesterday I had some leftover chicken jalfrezi in a saucepan. The recipe contains turmeric, paprika and tomatoes. I left the saucepan on top of the composter and did my rounds. Now Gandalf is the young female stray cat. She is both grey and white and hence her name. Gandalf the grey battled the Balrog underground and as consequence was reborn as Gandalf the white. Her white fur is very white.

When I got back from my rounds, she was there on top of the composter with her head in the saucepan licking the jalfrezi sauce. She picked up some smears of yellow-orange sauce on her face. There is still some residual colour this morning. Turmeric can be difficult to shift. She seemed to like the jalfrezi. What about vindaloo? That remains to be seen.

As a result, I have had to change my routine and not leave pots on the composter.

This morning’s round reveals that the dastardly coypu twins have found / made a new hole in the fence. The witness sticks near that hole have been moved. The ones near the electric fence remain relatively untouched.

I have 25m of fencing with 2mm thick wire arriving later this week. This afternoon there is no rain and we are predicted the dizzy heights of 7 °C. So, I shall rewire the electric fence to be a four strand fence with 4-5 cm gaps between strands. I’ll popover into the swamp and the DMZ in the neighbouring wild and strim their side of the fence.

That means when the new fencing arrives, I am good to go…

Two Hour Coypu Fence Assault

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday I made a temporoary repair to a new hole in the fence. Which you can see in the footage below.

The coypu twins arrived at 3:30 AM and were at the fence until 5:45 AM. I have forty 15 second clips of them chewing and digging.

Look at the size of the teeth on this little bugger.

The three strand electric fence has been disturbed and the witness sticks away from the fence near this corner have been moved.

My guess is they gave up on the wire fence and risked the electrice fence as dawn approached. Having been shocked they went in the pond away from the electricity.

I’ll probably put a fourth strand in the electric fence this afternoon.

The local farm store sells a battery operated electrificator which has 2.8 Joule pulses at ten thousand volts. That is more than a factor of ten higher…

Might be worth a hundred euros…

I have ordered some more fencing to repair where there are other holes.

The Coypu Saga Continues…

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few days, the river has been in flood and flowing very quickly. Previously we have had no Coypu visits when it has been like that. So, I put the trail cam outside my office to confirm the re-appearance of the new hefty tom cat. Sure enough, he visited and sniffed the pissing tree during the night. He is probably not feral as he looks very well fed.

This morning, I inspected the electric fence in the corner of the property. The fence had been interfered with and some of the wires had slipped their guides.

Here is what a big Coypu does when it gets shocked {from February last year}. Turn up the volume. You can see an earthing spark in the infrared images.

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As you can see the Coypu jumps, grunts and disturbs the fence. I am reasonably sure that something got shocked last night. BUT the witness sticks at two point of ingress into the pond were untouched.

So, I have repositioned the camera for tonight and placed witness sticks at all the points of entry into the pond.

Perhaps we have deterrence, perhaps not.

Maybe I can put some antipigeon spikes on the wall to the right in the video above, down by the river… if the blighters are accepting the shock for a nice midnight snack….

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