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.

The Executioner

by admin - 23:43 on 02 July 2011

July seems to have provoked a streak of savagery in our usually placid puss that we thought was long gone.

Yesterday, the day after the rescue of a young sparrow from her jaws, another one (or possibly the same one) was found cowering out of the hunter's reach below the stairs.

Today, insistent 4am yowling preceded the discovery of an expired rodent outside the front door and an ex-chaffinch not far from that. For a dentally challenged middle-aged moggy with a dodgy hip, Bess is showing unexpected skill.

As I was awake anyway I stayed up in the hope of an early pine marten but had to settle for another sighting of Speedy, who I found wandering along the path outside The Rural Retreat. By the time I got the Pentax in action he'd almost reached the shelter of the undergrowth. However, I managed a few snaps. One, although a bit soft, is the best yet. With luck there'll be better to come.

Gardening took up much of the morning and led to the discovery of another new species in the Retreat's environs, found beneath a stone. I guessed a newt – a palmate, according to a Flickr friend – but what it was doing here I can't say. The beast was 5-6cms from nose to tail.

My excuse for the poor snap is that he was even faster than Speedy.

The day's last wildlife (apart from the usual noises in the walls) was a long-overdue sighting of Master Marten. He's still trying to avoid me, for he didn't come to the gate which I can keep an eye on from the window. By chance I saw him in The Nutella Tree, then running around the tree and in and out of the undergrowth.

I've no idea what caused this behaviour. Perhaps he was over-excited after finding the expired rodent which I left for him on a branch along with the regular sustenance. Nothing goes to waste around here.

I'll see tomorrow if the snaps are any good but light was low, ISO high and distance long. All the regular excuses.

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