Monday Miscellany

Just a few things that have made me smile over the last few days

 Dolly, the cat from next door sitting in the heather just in front of our kitchen window.  A few days before there was a knock at the door and our neighbour came to say that she thought Dolly was stuck up a tree at the top of our garden as she could hear her mewing.  Paul took the car out of the garage, retrieved the ladders from the hooks on the garage wall and took them up to the top of the garden. He clambered up and found Dolly sitting on a flat piece of trunk unable to get down.  She was very grateful to be rescued and let him pick her up and carry her down the ladders.  She's such a pretty cat.  The feather which looks as if it is in her mouth is actually stuck to the heather it has been there for days and it still there this morning I expect it will soon disappear under the expected snow.

We had a walk around the lake at Trentham Gardens early last week and whilst we were there we saw a display of birds of prey.  I was fascinated with the markings and the bright eyes of the eagle owl.  It being half-term here there were children and parents about and they were listening in fascination to the handler explaining about how the owl's head appears to turn all the way round, apparently owls can rotate their necks to around 260 degrees and not tear any tendons or blood vessels.   The owl obligingly demonstrated this technique a couple of times.

 I'm still smiling at the thought of the snowdrops we saw at Hopton Hall in Derbyshire which we visited last Wednesday (see my post before last for more snowdrop photos).

Saturday we went for a very cold walk at RSPB Coombes Valley. By the time we got back to the car my finger ends were tingling and my feet were numb but I felt so much better for having been in the fresh air for a while. We didn't see many birds just a pair of pheasants, a dunnock, one or two robins and one tree creeper.  We also saw a buzzard flying overhead, whirling over the trees. 

 A couple of days ago Paul glanced out of our bedroom window and saw a fox curled up in the undergrowth over the hedge in the area of trees between us and the school grounds he took the photo of it above.  The foxes have been very noisy over the last few days.  He is one of last year's cubs and he spent quite a time there and we saw him there again the following day.  I wondered if the female fox had had her cubs and he had retreated to a quiet spot out of the way?  When I looked up the time cubs were usually born it said March or April but a fox lover I follow on face book has reported that the female fox which visits his garden has had her cubs behind his shed so perhaps it isn't too early.  If there are early cubs I hope they will stay safe during the expected cold spell next week.