h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Actually it was a Grass snake in my pond!
I often go for a walk round my garden after getting home from work, as a way of winding down. At that time of day, things are usually pretty quiet and peaceful. Today was an altogether different experience. On walking over to my small pond, i could see the water heaving and frogs leaping all over the pond trying to get out quickly. The reason, an 18inch long young Grass snake was in the pond. Snakes can swim very well and will often swim across rivers and bathe as a way to keep cool on a hot day. It's the last thing i expected to find in my tiny pond.
I took hold of the snakes tail and pulled it out of the pond, what a beautiful creature. Sage green in colour with the classeic coller of bright yellow and black. I let it go under the large log next to the pond, which serves as a seat to watch the wildlife.
After dinner,i went back down to the pond, just to check everything was how it should be. To my horror the snake was back in the pond! Again i took hold of the tail and pulled it out. This time it had hold of a frog, i realised only then that it was hunting and the small frogs in the pond were dinner! So this time i put the snake on the other side of my fence, which leads into an orchard and far away from my pond. How successful this will be i don't know, i have a feeling my pond could be the hunting domain for that snake all the time there is food in there for it.
I havent seen a Grass snake since i was a youngster, in fact i've never seen any of our native reptiles since i moved here 26 years ago. It's a shame that my first snake sighting had to be while it was trying to eat my frogs......thats nature for you!

what an experience.

Pity for the frogs, but then I guess the snake has to live, too.

It certainly was an experience, one i've never encountered before.

I've never seen a snake in its natural environment. I guess I'd be very startled if I did.

It was only a small snake and very pretty. When i was a child it was common to see snakes and lizards, we knew just where to find them. Like alot of things, they are now much less common and in some cases protected. I feel privaledged to have seen a snake in the wild, i think the grandkids would have freaked if they had been there

Don't underestimate the kids, they might have been just as fascinated as you were. I know where to find lizards - my boys even managed to catch them when they were kids, although lizards are very fast.

Ah, right, so the first one arrived then, did it? You'd once mentioned how you haven't seen any for quite a time, so I packed some little lunches ... printed out directions from Google-Maps, and sent them along to you.

I got to admit I know the feeling.

I'd be upset too if something were preying on my frogs, painfully established, but now thriving. It recalls to mind a time a road runner took up residence in my yard. If I'd known at the time how destructive it would be of the local lizards, I'd have trapped it and taken it for a ride waayyy..... out in the country.

Also, I'm reminded of grass snakes I've known on the American west coast, green on the back but in northern Nevada with orange under-bellies, while in so. Cal. the same species has a yellow under-belly. Very pretty and inoffensive little things but strongly aquatic and voracious frog hunters.

My sister seasonally puts netting over her frog pond to keep migratory water fowl out.

What I want to know is whether or not you let the snake finish the frog before you tossed him over the fence? Or did you leave him mid-frog, as it were, and without his amphibian pudding. Imagine someone tossing you over the nearest parapet with half a roast chicken in your mouth.

Alas, snakes and frog and that whole natural ouroboros are part of what makes it all work as you know. Means you have a properly healthy pond and garden. I'd only worry if you start to see something bigger start to eat the snakes. Sooner or later beasts get big enough to eat the land owner, although you can usually see politicians coming a mile away and dodge them.

I hope I can find such an acreage out East when I move house, snakes, frogs, porcupines, marmosets, daft parrots, bears, moose, and northern white rhinos included. Ok, I'll settle for just the frogs.

- CH

The snake dropped the frog as i pulled it from the pond, much to my relief I don't get many frogs in the pond and as they are so beneficial in the garden i did'nt want them all to be snaffled by a hungry snake.

I don't think i've ever been caught with half a chicken in my mouth, it would have to be a small chicken.

Fortunately the biggest animal i'm likely to get in my garden is a badger. I'm not too keen on them visiting as they dig big holes everywhere and make bigger holes in the fence

My goodness, you have rhino over there too? I thought they preferred warmer climates?

I'm not aware of many rhinos, white - grey - or - purple, in this country. Mayhaps he's referring to his outdoor beer fridge?

No no, Rhinos would just be in a perfect world. Actually I'd be more keen on the marmosets. Cute little buggers. Point is, I'd settle for just the frogs and ten acres to build the perfect garden. I can import my own snakes. I've got my eye on a 55 acre parcel that is supposedly covered in blueberries and has an ocean view. We'll see if that happens.

That's a lot of blueberries. Has your retirement budget got room for that many replacement pairs of shoes and such?

Are there likely to be a frogs where you plan to move to? I like frogs. Here in the UK, the frogs are quite small, still do a great job of keeping the slug population under control. I just wish they would grow some teeth so they could deal with the snails too.. Mind you, frogs with teeth would just be the most comical sight

Are you familiar with Newts? I get alot of newts in my pond, they breed each year and it's great when i see the little newtlets enjoying the pond. The closest thing you would get to a newt in Canada would be a Salamander, they would be bigger than a newt though.
Important question - What kind of plants would you grow in a 10 acre garden?

"She turned me into a newt! She's a witch! She's a witch!"

"A newt?"

"Well, erm...I got better."

Where I'm (hopefully) headed is basically just Ireland with the water round the other side so yes, there will be frogs (sans teeth), newts, salamanders, rabbits with HUGE pointy fangs, moose, bear, deer, more moose, and perhaps, just perhaps, a porcupine or two.

Now then, what plants on 10 acres...the short answer is anything I want. In fact, I hope to have even more acreage than that so there's a bit of a "buffer zone" between me and any neighbours. Remember, think mountain hermit here.

The long answer is that I'm a vegetable man. Give me an acre and I can feed ten families year round. I come from farming stock (although that's a guarded secret) and do the full gambit from heirloom tomatoes to eggplants. Think uhm...Jamie Oliver's garden in "Jamie at Home". Everything you see is edible and a giant wood-fired oven in the corner. I'm sure there'll be some larger crop of opportunity on a large part of the parcel but yes, I'll have ponds and pretty things too. Veggies are my first calling mind you, but I can appreciate the odd rose or snapdragon.

As part of my quasi-retirement, I'm seriously thinking about turning the farm into more of a production number. Gardening interns, You-Pick fields, tours, bakery kitchen, the whole ball of peavines, as it were. That sort of "farmer to table" commerce is huge over here just now and with my food biz connections I think I could turn it into a real money spinner. It's all about atmosphere. People WANT to go to the farm these days to get their food. With a little polish, ala the wine country or the farmer's market, it could be grand. Ah, plans a plenty.

Aren't you sorry you asked now? Don't get me started on home construction or I'll never shut up.

-CH

Vegetable growing has become a big thing here in the last couple of years. More and more people are renting allotments and turning parts of their gardens into vegetable plots. My dad was a big vegetable grower, i remember helping him pick beans and dig up potatoes when i was a child.

If you're planning to grow veg in a big way, then you're going to have to do something about the Were-rabbits, those HUGE pointy fangs can suck the life out of a carrot leaving only the limp skin. You're lettuce's will become shrivelled and dried after those pointy fangs have slurped the life out of them.
What you will need is a patrol, to constantly guard you veggies. And what better patrol than a prickle of pointy porcupines! You already have the blueprint for the cage dancing females, which should attract plenty of interest (not necessarily from just other porcupines ). Once trained, they should be able to sort out shifts amongst themselves to ensure your veggies are protected untill the 'point' of harvesting.

I'm beginning to recall one of the reasons I don't have a veggie garden ... It seems to be a veritable battle-front!

The other reason being that anything that might begin, ends as a shrivelled small black something or other.