More rabbits than I recollect being out late in the middle of the morning. Mostly quite young. Thankfully didn't have the dog with me...
More rabbits than I recollect being out late in the middle of the morning. Mostly quite young. Thankfully didn't have the dog with me...
One of the cats brought a live mole into the house yesterday evening. Dropped it on the living room floor and then didn't really know what to do with it. I took it back outside to let it continue digging holes in the lawn.
Slightly more interesting were all the cinnabar moth caterpillars (and a single moth) on the ragwort at the bottom of Near Black Clough (Bleaklow). And a single ripe Cloudberry at the top of the clough - according to plantlife.org.uk the fruit rarely forms in the UK due to a prevalence of male plants. Shame!
Whilst running the Dalesway race at the weekend we saw 2 hedgehogs and a stoat illuminated by our headtorches on the bit heading south from Buckden. Loads of owls and bats as well. Helped pass the time.
Several years ago on The Fellsman while following the walls up Buckden Pike in the wind and rain, I saw two small birds roosting in the bog grass close to the ground, sheltered from the wind. Their little eyes glinted in my torchlight. They didn't move even though I was almost on top of them and communicating (shouting in the melee) with my teammates. I actually felt guilty for disturbing them so rudely.
Had a Sparrowhawk do a lap round the back garden, fly off, then dive-bomb and take a sparrow off with it.
Grey seals at Flodaigh, Benbecula on our walk. Then 2 separate barn? owls spotted on the drive back to the campsite.
This was a couple of weeks ago but it was so funny I thought i would share:
Running along the track I spotted a squirrel in the field over the wall, what it was doing there i have no idea they usually stick to the woods; it started running away from me, but in the same direction that I was running, no less than 5 times it ran then slowed down to look back to see if I was still there, which of course I was.
Each time it did this the look on it's little furry face was increasingly funny... it was like a cross between the scene from Highlander on the beach where he is 'feeling the heartbeat of the stag' and a Benny Hill chase scene!