Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.
For people like me who aren't very observant, it is helpful to have advance warning of wildlife encounters. On the road from Santon Bridge to Eskdale Green, there was a sign, "Caution: red squirrels". A few hundred yards along the road, there was a rustling in a roadside tree, and there was the squirrel!
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Felt very privileged to have a good sighting of an otter in the River Wharfe at Otley yesterday morning. There are plenty of fish in the river - regularly see them jumping. They get fat on all the high class sewerage coming down river from Ilkley.
I do love an otter. We camped by the coast on Arran a couple of weeks ago and were entertained by pair each morning and evening as the tide came in. Lovely to watch out of the campervan window whilst eating your breakfast of Stornoway black pudding. Life doesn't get much better!
Pete Shakespeare - U/A
Going downhill fast
As seen from a footpath in the Peak District this afternoon.
A nuthatch is not a particularly rare bird, but it's still a thing of beauty
Quite an elusive bird around these parts but the only nuthatch I have ever seen is on the feeder in our garden. Just the once and probably 4-5 years ago now but a lovely sight to behold.
Pete Shakespeare - U/A
Going downhill fast
Sitting in a room at the front of the house this afternoon, there was a loud thud from somewhere outside. I looked out of the window, couldn't see anything. I soon forgot about it.
Two hours later, my wife went into the lounge at the back of the house, where there are patio doors: large sheets of glass. On one was a white imprint of two rather large wings (with even some detail of feathers), either side of a denser white imprint where the bird's body must have hit the window. No sign of a dead bird outside, so it presumably survived.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges