The Uninvited Guests in the Garden

I wrote about birds, now let's cover something else

First of all, if you're new here, my name is Sophie. I’m on a journey to slow down, reconnect with nature, and live more intentionally. After moving off-grid, I’m sharing lessons on rewilding, simplicity, and finding balance in a busy world, without any of the fluff.

Join my newsletter if you're also a busy human in need of some balance.

Like this, but definitely less cute…

Every day for the past two weeks, between 7 pm and 8 pm, Riley has been running the 2-meter distance from our window to the trees. Sometimes, he runs back, potentially because he has forgotten something. We’ve been trying to intercept Riley, but he’s fast. In the mornings, Riley spends time outside our other window, usually when I’m writing.

This weekend, on Saturday evening, the three of us - that is me, my husband and Croky the parrot - spent roughly 1,5 hours trying to catch a glimpse of Riley. We stared out the window, even had our camera going, but we were unsuccessful. I’m not sure why he decided not to show up.

It should be clear that we do not like Riley. We are trying to ‘catch’ Riley, because we would prefer it if he no longer frequents our garden. Riley has been eating the birdfood, including the coconut birdfeeder filled with high-energy food. This would explain why Riley has grown past the point where he would fit in our traps, he’s now the size of a small dog.

Riley is a rat. I’m not just saying that, as in “he’s a liar or a snitch”, I really mean he is a rat; potentially a mega-rat, he really is very big; potentially he is a liar too, I don’t think we should trust rats. He’s also a very smart rat, and if he keeps growing at the rate he’s been going, he might soon be the ruler of the forest.

A week ago, I was greeted by Polly Possum. She was chilling in the tree right in front of me. I would normally not have seen her if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve been avoiding using our outhouse to not disturb our Swallows in the evening. Mrs Zippy needs her rest now that she has eggs. So I thought I’d go about my business in between the trees, and there was Polly, the Possum, looking at me with her yellow beady eyes.

I quickly ran to my husband to let him know. Possums are not welcome here. Possums, while cute and certainly a protected species in other countries, are a major threat to New Zealand’s ecosystem; they endanger our native birds and damage our native trees.

I’ve been reading a lot of 19th Century literature by the early New Zealand settlers and one of the books explains how they brought the possums here in the 1850s, hoping to establish a fur trade. They quickly became a problem as they damaged the ecosystem, and in 1921, it became illegal to bring new possums into the country.

Photo by Vlad Kutepov on Unsplash

New Zealand has one of the highest numbers of endangered and extinct species in the world. Native species here never evolved to be able to protect themselves against these predators. This is why we trap pests - rats, mice and possums - because we want to create an environment where native fauna and flora can thrive; because we want the birdlife in our garden to thrive; because we (humans) should never have brought them here in the first place.

I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s part of our life and here, on my little corner of the internet, I want to give you a full picture of what our life off the grid is like. And that includes pest trapping.

We get visits from other wild animals as well. We frequently hear wild goats who live in the valley close by. They sound like humans in distress, it’s very confusing.

One day, as I was walking to the outhouse in the dark, I suddenly heard a grunt, a snort and some twigs crunching. A wild pig stood there, only a couple meters away from me. It was not pleased with my choice to go outside during that hour. So I ran back inside and decided I could wait a little longer. Going to the bathroom is always a bit of an adventure.

We haven’t caught Riley yet. It’s 7pm as I’m writing this, so I think I’ll go and sit by the window to see if I can catch a glimpse of him today.

---

Something that inspired me this week:

I came across this short film featured on

Urban Nature Diary

’s Substack. It’s a beautiful film about the love people have for birds and the importance of taking care of our environment. Please pause everything you were planning on doing for the next 13 minutes and watch this short documentary called “The Birdwatchers”. I promise you will not regret it.

---

If you enjoyed this article, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Currently all articles are free and delivered to your inbox once a week. By becoming a paid subscriber you help keep this publication going and growing. A yearly subscription is 50 NZD, that’s the price of a nice book.

---