From Tony Thain:
In a recent review of my photos, it was noticed that many featured the local wildlife and that the garden at the Old Dairy was rarely empty of birds or even animals, from cock pheasants using the place as a battlefield to fleeting glimpses of Wilfred [or grandson of Wilfred] the weasel racing around the dry stone walls.
Nothing, it appears, is sacred to the wildlife. A few days ago I realised that every time I walked to the workshop, in the passageway between the barn, I was nearly in collision with a blackbird flying at low level. Closer inspection revealed a well-constructed nest by one of the doors complete with a complement of three chicks. Most of the time I can leave them in peace but I do have to get into the garage and workshop - but the blackbird family seem to have worked out that I will not interfere with them and that they are quite safe.
Even at night the late shift comes out and the wood mice take advantage of the hedgehog feeding stations by the barbecue and in the generator shed. Not just the mice but the complement of....
....local hedgehogs that frequent the free food on offer. By my count I have about five or six hedgehogs coming in every night on a very precice schedule, so that they rarely conflict with their peers. Thus there's no waiting or fighting to get to the offerings - my hedgehogs are very well brought up and have very good manners!
There is also a community of voles, but I only see them while I disturb them by mowing the lawns and as yet have not figured a way to take photos whilst operating a motor mower. I am sure that there are other animals around that I haven't spotted like the toads and the pine marten that frequents the woodpile in the barn.
Many thanks to Tony for pictures and story.
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