A few days ago I posted here about the mysterious pest munching our plants… This morning another disaster. These begonias eaten off at the ground. Every night there seems to be more including four hostas, now, and any number of other plants.

And now that our dense planting is getting thinner (with so many plants decapitated) we can see the holes – there are holes everywhere. And judging by what Nicki The Vole Slayer (left, scroll down) is bringing in every day, the culprits look like (I kid you not) Microtus pennsylvanicus – the meadow vole. Its even named after our state! And a state is exactly what we're in. Can't go on like this.

Nicki will just have to spend more time outside because Dozy Duffy, our other cat who roams inside the deer fence, is to put it mildly – utterly useless as a vole slayer.

OK, time to wake her from her slumbers and get her back to work. There are voles to slay, plants to protect. Where are you Nicki?

UPDATE (two days later): I finally gave in and put out a little trap, I just can't keep losing all these plants. This morning, after the first night - the trap has completely disappeared...