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 Fox In The Garden
by admin - 17:46 on 15 June 2013
The Rural Retreat's garden can be divided roughly in two (if you ignore the drive, on either side of which are untrimmed grass and weeds – ideal hunting ground for almost-cats – and the far-distant bottom of our acreage, given over to blackcurrant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes, gorse, broom and ferns but dominated by a huge fallen pine branch).
On the left of our willow tree is the carefully tended lawn, meticulously weeded flower beds, the apple tree and what remains of The Nutella Tree; on its right is our uncultivated plot, split by some roughly mown pathways to enable us to get around and reach The Bonfire That Is Never Lit. That's where I hoped we might find a few resident hedgehogs, and close to which I set the Bushnell a couple of nights ago.
The snaps it took were unexpected: not hedgehogs, freeloading felines or wandering pine martens, but something that looked distinctly foxy. I repositioned the Bushnell in an attempt to get a better look. Nothing visited the night before last but the following night our prowling visitor was back, at 1.30am. And it's definitely a fox.
We shouldn't be surprised. Mr Dogwalker (of course) has seen foxes so there's no reason why they shouldn't pass through the Retreat's environs. I'm delighted to learn we have even more wildlife than I thought in the garden; Matchgirl was pleased too, notwithstanding the threat to nocturnal moggies.
Squirrel James won't be impressed by the grainy monochrome snaps – he's recently found urban foxes in Glasgow who'll sit and pose for a picture. Rural foxes have more caution, so I'm happy with the evidence I have. But I'll keep the Bushnell in action in the hope of something better, and maybe some video too.
Music Update: I passed the audition and I'm now bass player with The Fumes (who really must do something with their website). They've been off the road for a while but expect to gather gigs soon – Johnny Foxes and The Room in Inverness are eager to know when the band will be available, which is a promising sign. Brora Gala on July 27 is pencilled in as the comeback gig. I'd better keep practising.
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