Apr 11th, 2024

Author: donich_admin

Another wonderful wildlife moment

This morning the coffee time excitement was through the side window of the kitchen which overlooks the feeding area. We normally put seeds on the windows sills as well as the feeding table.

So this morning here was this gentleman. A great big pine marten. He was so close I could have touched him (much closer up than I have ever seen one before) and I could see every detail of his lovely soft fur, his little rounded ears and his creamy chest. Unfortunately the photos are not that good because I didn’t want to scare him in order to get a good picture.

I watched him for about 10 minutes and then he took off. A couple of squirrels appeared in the background while he was eating but rapidly disappeared when they saw him.

To get an idea of the size of the marten, this is him as he ran off.

Martens also have a distinctive “limping” gait – early on I thought this was one specific marten which had been injured, but in fact it seems to be a species trait. I have a special affinity for this at the moment as I have a distinctive limping gait myself!

Had the pre-op for my foot yesterday – uneventful except that the arseholes at Bear Roads had closed the A83 for no other reason than “it might rain” and caused us over half an hour’s delay diverting on to the OMR. I literally despair of these people and the politicians who fail to call them to account. With the General Election coming up, I can inform any interested parties, that if any of a) Genghis Khan b) Adolf Hitler c)Satan and all his little wizards come to my door and ask for my vote, the first one of them to offer to put a tunnel in to bypass the RaBT will definitely have it. And if they fix the refuse collection issues in the area and force the Forestry Commission to fix our access road, I will give them R’s soul as well.