An appeal to strimmer users

[Hedgehoggy]

I’m appealing to all you gardeners out there to please check the areas you’re about to wade into with your strimmers. I have 4 orphaned hoglets in care today because an unsuspecting gardener strimmed into a hedgehog’s nest in dense vegetation in their garden, severely maiming ‘mum’ and injuring one of her 4 hoglets.

The distraught gardener had the compassion and sense to scoop up the whole family and rush them to my vets, but sadly mum had to be pts due to the extent of her injuries. Vet managed to repair and stitch up the injured hoglet and I now have 4 very bewildered hoglets in care, minus their mum.

Apart from the injury to one hoglet, they are beautifully healthy hoglets, mum was doing a grand job of rearing them.

[Boddie]

A great thread with a good point.

[nightshade]

I have a local Transport company that strims and mows a Grass berm. It kills Slow Worms every year I reported it to the County Council Ecologists but it still goes on. (I am banned from their premises after a heated debate)

[htcdude]

I nearly strimmed a Silver Y the other day, so I stopped and went round all the edges removing any snails, slugs and anything else I could find before carrying on

Nige

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I have a local Transport company that strims and mows a Grass berm. It kills Slow Worms every year I reported it to the County Council Ecologists but it still goes on. (I am banned from their premises after a heated debate)

we do a fair bit of strimming but we're as careful as we can be and have never strimmed any wildlife

thing is if you've got roadside grass you are obligated to cut it, because if you dont and theres an accident caused by poor visibility (caused by your vegetation) you get sued wittless

likewise countrside users expct paths to be strimmed etc and complain vociferously if they arent.

[paulinemiller10]

All sorts of wildlife will make their homes in dense vegetation which has been left to grow, a strimmer will make light work of getting rid of it all very quickly, but the sad part is all the wildlife that had made it their home would'nt have time to get away, most will be killed or very badly injured.
A lot of people using these machines are not aware of the damage they can do, and are very upset when they find they have a badly injured animal on their hands, I don't think there is an easy answer, creatures hide themselves so well in this sort of environment, and even having a good look before starting, the animal or creature may not be spotted, even thrashing it first with a stick to make a noise to frighten them away before strimming will only save a few, hedgehogs would just sit tight knowing they stand a better chance of survival if they are not spotted. Pauline.

Posting a poster I made a few years ago to make people aware of the terrible injury's these poor animals can suffer with this sort of machine.

[Dorts]

Just finished strimming a piece of rough grass, being carefull for the reasons mentioned, and out came three female Slow-worms, all in perfect condition I'm pleased to say.
So there's another to look out for in the long grass!
Dorts.

[King Edward]

This is a good argument for using a hand scythe rather than a strimmer (where suitable), since I'm sure it must kill far less wildlife of all sorts during cutting (as well as being quieter, lighter and much more pleasant to use). Obviously there's still a danger of animals being cut in half with a scythe, but it must be considerably less than when compared with a rapidly spinning blade/nylon line.

[Dorts]

I used to work with a hand sythe, (sickle), and a sythe as a young lad, sometimes for many days on-end. And it is true that far less wildlife is harmed while using those tools.

The problem is that a sickle is difficult to use on large areas of very long grass, unless you have a good, strong wrist; and a sythe is almost impossible to use, (if you can get hold of one), without several years experience.

Alternatives would be to graze where possible, or to leave cutting/strimming until the winter.
In my experience lawn mowers, especially the 'ride-on', do far more harm than strimmers. They move so much more quickly, giving wildlife less chance to move to safety.
Most vulnerable in long grass are slow-worms, frogs, toads and as has been said, hedgehogs.

Certainly if the area of long grass is relatively small and you are capable of using hand tools, then that must always be the best option.
Dorts.

[bee warrior]

Scything almost certainly gives the wildlife a better chance than a strimmer. I scythe the local churchyard each summer and I generally, regrettably catch a toad or two. At least I can take comfort from the fact I see a lot escaping. I am always as careful as I can be. How tragic to think of the hedgehog in this case, very sad.