The replacement parts for the chainsaw and the leaf blower have arrived at the agricultural equipment store. Mike plonked both machines down on the counter. As the chap behind the desk inspected the nibbled ‘bubbles’ the hint of a smirk played out across his face. “Can I interest you in a mousetrap, sir?”

The store is packed to bursting with every type and model of land management kit known to man. It’s a specialist dealer. Agricultural machinery is all they sell. And mousetraps. Nocturnal gnawing of chainsaw parts not an uncommon problem, it would seem.

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So. Now that the freshly repaired equipment is back in the fold, just how to protect it?

Fear not. Mike is the original Blue Peter* child. He disappeared into his shed and emerged an hour or so later proudly waving a device constructed from a piece of an old electrical socket back plate and an offcut from one of my mother’s curtain poles. This unlikely combination fits perfectly, apparently, over the chainsaw’s priming bubble and is therefore our next line of defence against Apodemus sylvaticus.

But it doesn’t end there. Oooh no. The protection for the leaf blower is even more devious..

Enter the plastic dispenser from a bottle of laundry gel. It doesn’t quite fit. But it can be modified..

And then secured in place with duct tape.

I have been instructed to never again throw away a bottle of Fairy Gel without first handing over the dispenser.

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* For readers outside the UK, Blue Peter is a long running children’s TV programme. Back in the 70s the presenters were renowned for their ability to construct a variety of dubious objects from the inside of loo rolls, cut down liquid detergent bottles and the then ubiquitous ‘sticky-back’ plastic.

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