Not a Pretty Picture

Rather than use the car around the village, we walk wherever and whenever we can, believing that walking is better for our health, cheaper, and kinder to the environment. Close proximity to our roads, however, does have some down-sides, one of the worst of which is a close-up view of some of the carnage that happens on them.

This morning, walking down to the shop, we passed a dead rabbit. When we moved it onto the grass verge, to prevent the next vehicle from splattering its internals across the road, it was already stiff with rigor mortis, so it must have died some hours ago, no doubt blinded in its executioner's headlights.

Small birds are frequent casualties, particularly at this time of year when there are large numbers of very stupid young sparrows around, who leave take-off until the last possible moment. They lie on the road like small, fluffy toys.

In wet weather the chief casualty is frogs. A lot of them seem to cross the road, perhaps because they're looking for a mate and the road is in their path. While the sparrows have no excuse for getting hit, frogs are comparatively slow in moving out of the way.

Unlike frogs and sparrows, mice don't linger on the road. When we see them, they're making a quick dash for the other side, so this one must have been singularly unlucky to have met a fast-rotating tyre half way across.

Most of these remains disappear fairly rapidly, scavenged, pulverised, or simply rotting away. Hedgehogs, perhaps because they have a tough skin and a layer of spines, linger for months - there's one almost fossilised specimen just up the road which must have been there a good year.

The Diary understands that these casualties are what the military call 'colateral damage' - we can't help killing a few small beasts in pursuit of our modern lifestyle. However, perhaps it's good for us to be aware we're doing it.