Hatched or herried ?

[ged]

Red squirrels will eat eggs too.............

Yes, but they're protected.

Aye, the squirrels are there too. I refer to them as ... thieving, furry grey rodents. ...

Which is exactly what they are.

On the whole I let nature get on with things, but our modern society has taken down so many trees and hedges that the wee birds are concentrated in gardens like mine, and that makes them easier prey for the magpies and the squirrels and cats. Sometimes we need to redress the balance a bit.

And there you have it in a nutshell. We have upset the balance. Greys for example are not a native species, they were introduced by us a only couple of centuries ago but now vastly outnumber the indigenous reds. Magpies and other scavengers thrive on road kill. Our roads have ripped through the territories of our indigenous mammals so that they can hardly find enough space to make a decent living without being run over, and road kill has resulted in a huge increase in numbers of magpies and crows. Naturally the increased numbers results in reduced numbers of the smaller birds on which they will prey.

We've messed up, big-time.

 

[Toddy]

Just been told I've done it again
's'no ma fau't ye cannae speir quicker

Anyway, to herrie a nest .....

Herrie = harry; plunder; rob; ruin

Herry = to harry.

Herryment = spoilation.

I don't need a spell check so much as a Scot's check What do the English among us use for this word ? Is it harry ? that kind of seems more like a chase word than a raiding word.

atb,
M

 

[bushwacker bob]

'Harry' is used down here but I'm sure if we can understand Hamish we can work out what you say.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Woodpeckers raid nests too.

 

[Ichneumon]

I was going to ask you about herried Toddy. Wasn't in my lexicon and couldn't find it in a dictionary or the interweb. I knew you don't make typos so I guessed it had to be local dialect. It didn't make any difference, I knew what you meant. We say Harry; def 2 is To raid, as in war; sack or pillage. I'd have just said eaten, but that spoils the alliteration!

 

[HillBill]

I read somewhere that although magpies raid nests and such, they will only take one egg per nest. Kind of like a protection racket for all the birds nesting on their patch.

How true it is i can't say though.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I read somewhere that although magpies raid nests and such, they will only take one egg per nest. Kind of like a protection racket for all the birds nesting on their patch.

How true it is i can't say though.

That is pure magpie propaganda

 

[Toddy]

and it's started again. 2p piece for scale.
I'm pretty sure it was magpies, there's a huge number of them here now, and it didn't even eat the insides, just poked a hole in the shell and let it drop on the path.

M