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.

An Embarrassment of Martens

by admin - 21:51 on 10 June 2010

It's an ill wind, as they say, whoever they are. If Adam hadn't been sent away on business at short notice the band would have been in action tonight and I'd have missed Master Marten, who arrived just after 7pm for his twice-daily Nutella fix.

The light was great, I'm finally getting to grips with the right combination of ISO and aperture, and the result was a couple of good, sharp snaps and more great marten poses. Soo and Tony will be gnashing their teeth in frustration that they won't be up here until next month, and Dolphin James might regret turning down dinner and marten-watching.

Pine martens, I've discovered, have something in common with cats – they don't like making a fool of themselves.

Master Marten had hoovered up most of the Nutella and was sauntering towards the final smear when he slipped and almost fell from the top bar of the gate. He caught himself in time, looked up at me with an expression that said "You didn't see that, did you?", jumped to the ground and departed at speed.

He left behind the last licks of Nutella but was not so discomposed that he didn't remember to pick up his egg on the way.

He doesn't mind making a fool of me, though. The day after I wrote that he now climbed The Nutella Tree only after dark, there he was at 8.30 this morning, looking for a late breakfast despite the disapproval of the birds who fled from the nearby apple tree.

It was they who alerted me to his unexpected presence. As the tree was bare of sweet treats (I'd checked ten minutes earlier when I refilled the bird feeders) he didn't stay long so I had only a very brief opportunity for snappery, most of which was embarrassingly blurry.

Two were almost OK, one of which can be seen here. The other can be found on Flickr along with other shots from this evening. I hope you're not getting bored with him – there could be many more to come.

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