By Xelius
United Kingdom 
We have covered our strawberries in environmesh but something is making holes in it about one to one and a half inches dia. Most of the threads are just pushed apart to make the hole. Has anyone any idea what animal could be doing this? We do have deer nearby and snakes occasionally but no unicorns.
8 Jul, 2013
Answers
Slugs ? They just love my strawbs !!!!
9 Jul, 2013
Unicorns haven't been a problem for years but there is tell of numbers building up again.
Any animal big enough - squirrel, badger, all birds, especially jackdaws, (but not snakes!),they love the juicy sweetness, so you'll have to stake out the patch early a.m. and see what comes along. It's satisfying to find out these things. I've watched jackdaws taking mulberries off a tree, and if you watch how they open a hole in the ground for grubs, by pushing their beaks in closed, then opening them to widen the hole (I had a tame one for several months), you can understand how they might open holes in the mesh. Magpies, too, can do the same.
9 Jul, 2013
Thanks for your suggestions. I might be spotted at dawn on the allotments awaiting a sighting.
13 Jul, 2013
Good idea. The weather is so fabulous at the moment I seem to be waking at about 4.0 am and its such a quiet time of the day. Go and stake out the allotment and see whats doing it. (I do usually go back to bed again for a few hours!)
13 Jul, 2013
Birds or mice?
8 Jul, 2013