Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

A Giant Leap For Martenkind

by admin - 17:53 on 24 May 2012

The Fates seem to have turned against my hopes of capturing ace snaps of pine martens clambering amidst leafy boughs.

First came The Great Nutella Tree Disaster; now we're living through The Year of the Ferocious Moggy.

Crows woke me and Matchgirl some time after 6am (which may have been connected with what happened next). Neither the time nor the alarm call were pleasant. Shortly after that, from the bedroom window I spied a marten crossing the far end of the lawn. So did Bess, who was sunning herself at the front of the cottage.

By the time I got downstairs the marten was high up in our big birch tree, watched from the ground by a cat who in the past has lived in peace with mustelid visitors. Not any more. Another giant leap for martenkind was needed to escape.

How many times this has happened without our knowledge can only be guessed.

Bess has spent another day outdoors, relaxing beside the gate but alert for the sound of hungry martens. She stayed out late last night, too (assuming that she came home at all) but the Bushnell proved that her guard was relaxed enough to let someone past at midnight and 2am.

I've also spent part of the last couple of days in the garden, working hard with trowel, spade, fork, rake and lawnmower. The plants Mr Gardener left are all in the ground, the Seed Volcanoes levelled (almost). Just call me Titchmarsh.

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