plan stage 3

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Plan: stage 3 continued

For bait checking purposes the island has been split into 3 blocks. The team covers each block in a day, so all stations, weather permitting can be checked within a three day period.

Maps have been produced showing the location of all bait stations. The bait stations are labelled and numbered according to there position on a line. Team members will cover a certain number of lines on each visit to a block.

The map above shows the location of the bait stations around Tarbert.

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Each station is checked on a regular basis to ascertain the number of wax blocks removed by rats, the number nibbled by rats or mice and the number that may have disintegrated due to weather conditions.

nibbled bait blocks

Fresh blocks are added as required. The bait take is recorded from each station into notebooks. On return to base the data is transferred into a database set up by Kelvin Floyd of WMIL. This can then be used to produce maps of bait take. The map from round 1 of checking is shown below.

By carefully recording the bait take over a period of time the team can get some idea of which areas the rats are being eradicated from and can also identify ‘hot spots’ of remaining rat activity. Poisoning will continue into the New Year, at least until February, regardless of activity levels.

Stage 4. From mid-December stage 4 will commence... more...

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