It's become a regular occurrence to look at the water butt level (it's got an external tube that let's me see that at a glance) and cuss 'cos it's dropped more than it should have since the day before, and then (still cussing!) flip the override on the timer and go round to see where a pipe has been bitten into or cut through or a dripper detached and is spurting out water....
From the size of the holes in the bitten into 4mm pipes I'm suspecting squirrels, of which we have quite a few (greys of course), although we also have urban foxes and quite a local few cats come though daily, and I'll bet there's also the usual unseen rodents around.
I suppose I could bury the pipes a little, although I did that originally (for aesthetics), some years back and found the disadvantage is that you have to remember (not always successfully) where they are when weeding or trowelling/forking over the ground to avoid going through them, so brought them back to the surface. Also my experience with burying the drippers is that they become messy and difficult to adjust, and invariably clog up, and in any case, all of the local varmints are adept at digging.
I've put out a large garden saucer of water, thinking if it's water they're after I'll make it easy for them, but that doesn't seem to have made any difference.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)