I have been cutting grass for some of my customers lately. It came to my attention fairly quickly , that many creatures will flee the sound and vibration of a
lawn mower.
Frogs, toads and snakes are quite vulnerable, when a lawn is being mowed. All of these creatures are relatively slow-moving and they hide in tall grass.
One site where I work, has many tree frogs. They always move away from the mower. I have never seen one further than 20 feet from
trees or bushes , so I assume that they are foraging for food in the grass and they
shelter in the trees. Because of this, I cut in a manner that causes them to retreat to the treeline.
When I first start cutting the lawn, I cut a big strip about 30 feet away from a row of Lombardy poplars, that stretches for about 300 feet. There are also smaller clumps of trees and bushes on the property. I have seen a few frogs there as well.
Once the first cut has been made, I wait a while and work near the center of the large lawn, where I have never seen any frogs. Half an hour later , I cut more strips , gradually working toward the trees. On the first pass, I may see up to 10 frogs leaping toward the trees. On successive passes , I have only seen a few frogs. All have been jumping in the right direction , away from the machine and toward the safety of the trees.
Snakes look for warm basking areas and most of those found around here are likely to be near
water. Therefore , when there is a
pond or stream, I like to make my first cuts parallel to the water but far back from it. Snakes and frogs are able to retreat in a downhill direction, to the safety of the unkept , wet areas. If there are basking rocks, above the watercourse, it's important to start the work above those rocks. Then the lawn is cut continuously downward until the bottom is reached. I don't take a break during an operation like this, because lawn mowing kills slugs and other things that snakes and frogs may want to eat. If I stop, they may think that the danger is over and return to the lawn for a meal.
Yesterday, the lawnmower killed many slugs in one area. A group of crows witnessed the murder☺, and quickly landed to take advantage of the bounty.
Some creatures may simply hunker down and hide when a lawn is being cut. If the grass is cut higher, there is less chance of them being injured. I have been able to convince some customers to cut higher.
I will continue to post other Wildlife protection methods that develop.
If these lawns belonged to me, I would cut only a small area of grass near the house. Until buying my mower last month, I hadn't cut any grass anywhere for 8 years. My customers are going to have lawns. I cut them as tall as they will go for, using my cordless electric machine, while attempting to move wildlife to safe areas. This is definitely the lesser evil.
Please post something, if you have developed methods of herding wildlife to safe zones during lawn cutting. Thank you.