Wildlife Roundup

"Fred - quick, come look at this"... Mr B is holding out the plastic tub of fat pellets (lid on).  A mouse is crouched inside.  Clearly I hadn't pressed the lid down till it clicked, or used the wrong lid.  Poor wee mouse.

"Please let it go in the garden somewhere."  Oh, I know, it will be back in the garage this evening, but by then the lids will all be properly pressed onto the fat balls, and fat pellets, and seeds and calci worms.

Mrs Hedgehog has returned, or awakened, or decided that the H-Diner is worth visiting again.  She was a regular until Mr B came out to Singapore, and the service at the diner got neglected for a week.  After that the food went untouched despite it being a mild winter.  We have tried a couple of time since then to restock the self-service counter but got the impression it was possibly being favoured by rats (or mice).  This week however after a late evening out in the garage (bolting ever more gadgets onto his new motorbike) Mr B checked the diner and discovered that Mrs H has returned.  She was chowing down on tinned catfood (no fish), fat pellets (not the berry flavoured ones) and calci worms.  She is very decisive about her food choices.  We do so hope there are (or will be) some little H's.

Today I spied a 'mouse' hurtling into the grape hyacinths on the corner of the woodshed. "Look Mr B - your mouse is back."

Some intense study of the little brown grey movements later, and out flicked a wren. Little wren bounced around the gardens that flank the back concrete, checked out the woodshed, checked out the pile of small wood kept under the patio table for use on the barbeque, checked out all the places that spiders might hang out where fences meet walls and under shrubs, and then fired back into the apple tree and was lost to view.

What a cute wee sticky-uppy tail.

Picture borrowed from RSPB website

We haven't seen the fox for a while but a well rotted panel in the back fence was collapsed when we got home from holiday.  I had visions of foxy having jumped up one time to many and getting the fright of his life as it collapsed under him.  Another job for Mr B.  The poor old fence is gradually being replaced one panel every few months.