Night attack!

Fern, our springer spaniel, tries her utmost to keep intruders out of the garden. They might be foxes, squirrels, cats, wood pigeons or - possibly her most hated enemies - herring gulls. Our next-door neighbour throws bread onto his garage roof and there are at least two herring gulls which call regularly knowing they will be fed. One of them is the offspring of the other so I rather assume that the elder is female, but I have no way of telling. I do know that the younger one came with its parent during its first summer and the pair have been returning ever since, trying to keep other gulls and jackdaws off their territory. Fern goes berserk when she sees them, even more so if they (or any other bird) has the temerity to land on the plastiglass roof of our conservatory. I can't say that I'm keen on the gulls either. As the result of their ministrations my car is perpetually covered in white spots and we frequently have streaks down the windows of the house.

At least the cats don't do that. They are always very pleased when I dig over part of the vegetable garden and call round to show their gratitude by manuring it afterwards. The foxes really cause us no trouble, except that Fern goes down the garden last thing at night as though she were leaving the grid in a formula one Grand Prix, barking as loudly as she can. We assume that a fox has crossed the garden during the evening and Fern can smell its presence.

The squirrel (I think there is only the one) can be something of a pest. He delights in digging up spring bulbs, which he bites and discards, and this morning I looked out of the kitchen window to see a neat hole had been dug in the lawn. It can't be Fern because although she has dug holes in the lawn in the past, this one is too narrow and too neat for it to be her handiwork. The trouble is that she will worry at it if I don't fill it in, and even doing that is no guarantee that she will leave it alone.

I suppose I should just be grateful that we don't have badgers in the garden.