General Chat

Recreational cycling in Devon is a treat, despite the occasional energy-zaping hill & mindless meandering animals. :-D

I do not much like working out in the gym it is boring beyond measure. So in order to keep fit I ride a bike as much as possible both in London and the countryside yeah even points beyond Hampstead Heath.

I don't have a death wish.

The biggest problems with biking are traffic, which resents and hates bikes plus thieves. It is a real drag having to park the bike somewhere safe from portable angle grinders. I have had no accidents as a biker - push bikers who drive can anticipate the nonchalent way most drivers dish out hate and murder if feeling in the slightest that their time or road space have been stolen. The London Met. are not much better seeing little difference between riding a bike and going equipped plus bikes clutter up the roads and the slain road rage victims push up the stats even further leading to uncomfortable interviews on Newsnight.

Bob :-D

Hmmm make an old man happy.............???

Oh they'd prefer my fathers method, he used to fill a tray with beer and they'd drink themselves to death...then whatever ate them was happy.

Beer? Oh no, I'd put them in a bucket (Vaseline around the top) with oats.
Slugs/snails like oats - unfortunately for the slimy wotsits, when oats and water (the main constituent of gastropoda) mix - the oats swell up - poor slug/snail :-(
Then I can feed them to the birds :-D

and another thread goes to beer.....

I used to have - they made no difference. :-(
Too much food for hedgehogs and sloworms.
I may have to make a few 'slug and snail' drowning forays :-(

You need a toad or a frog.

LPG became 'unpopular' because, in a crash, if the fuel tank is ruptured, the (liquid) gas falls below the vehicle and catches fire. Not at all like Hydrogen, which rises.

The demise of the hedgehog is actually mainly due to 'secure' fences - the hedgehog can't travel, and slug pellets/pesticides.
The slug pellets/insecticides also kill off sloworms.
I have a cr*p back fence, piles of wood, an old tarp on the ground behind the shed (under the brambles), and have both hedgehogs and sloworms, - and grumpy neighbours!! :-D :-D

...oh and an awful lot of slugs and snails :-( :-( :-(

Will it though....you could of course ride a bike..if you have a death wish though if you were out of town in a more rural type setting then maybe even horse back....that's almost going back to the old days....

Unless you have a listed property you can do a lot to it without needing permission from the local council. That certainly covers walls and fences and charging points. Drop kerbs are decided by the Highway Authority which may or may not be the local council. The hedgehogs usually live in the wilds round the back aka "garden" but nest in what was once a wooden delivery crate. My house is not in the least gentrified which greatly irritates the neighbours. I just suggest they move to Highgate if That's what they want.

The demise of the hedgehog is largely down to a. Nothing to eat and b. Lack of breeding opportunity not the risks of 2D transformation. The culprits are farmers and over zealous gardeners. The same groups are decimating our wild birds.
I shell out a small sum every month to a hedge hog charity and wear the t-shirt when I can.

I was looking forward to something beefier than the little beemer but will no doubt get used to it just like hair shirts. I had not realised just how supportive Islington is of green driving. Hopefully there will not be any need for a home cp.

Hydrogen when compressed is a perfectly safe non polluting fuel and it is fairly easy to adapt current engines to run on it. Fitting hydrogen fuel tank similar to LPG. However expensive. On top the energy needed to extract, store and dist. the fuel is too great.

Over the next 20 years electric will be the only game in town. Get used to it.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/07/how-green-is-britains-low-carbon-energy-supply

Okay approx 30%.....

And for our Dorset friends

https://www.margaretgreenanimalrescue.org.uk/hedgehogs

Those figures are from 2008, there is a lot more green energy now and on some days it has exceeded 50% of the nation's energy consumption.

https://www.treehugger.com/animals/man-building-hedgehog-highways-london.html


Talking of Hedgehogs.......

" it is impossible to say what the power source is"

http://www.hi-energy.org.uk/Renewables/Why-Renewable-%20Energy/How-electricity-is-generated-in-the-UK.htm

Well it seems overall the UK is Gas, coal, Nuclear then Green.....

Most hedgehogs prefer back gardens that 'back onto' each other.
The one I have, until I chopped some branches off the tree and left them in a heap on the garden, only ventured a few feet into the front garden, via scuttling under the side gate (the same route my cats use).
Imagine a 'U' shape of houses. All the back gardens connect. That's what it's like where I live.
Over the years, I've heard them come through the back fence, up one side of the garden, through the shrubs, under the side gate, then back again , and down the other side, and through the fence again!

Where the branches are, is on a raised planted 'walled' bank. The raised area has bark on it, and a 'sunken' area (ex pond) with rather luxuriant shrubs growing in it. Periwinkle is invading from next door, so there's plenty of cover.
A front garden, 'shut off' from escape is an unusual place for hedgehogs - but I'm afraid I accidently left a perfect place for them :-S

First time in over 20 years they've 'invaded' the front garden.

As a matter of interest wonder what the life expectancy is anyway in the middle of wherever it happens to be today Islington or Dorset or wherever....don't most Hedgehogs get run over on the roads!

*engage brain before typing* :-D :-D