Wild day…
Been quite a day with the wildlife today, as we spent time with relatives up the Morayshire coast:
1. I’ve got a hoodie problem – more specifically, a hooded crow who keeps landing on the car and pecking the windscreen wipers.
It’s pecked off chunks at the back of the blades, and pulled off part of the rubber strip that wipes the windows. Does it think rubber is a great nesting material, or is it seeing a big fat juicy black rubber worm?
2. Figured the frogs would have spawned as Spring has been warming up since the start of the month. We walked through sharp cold sea winds to reach a large wildlife pond near where she lives in Kingston. Collected some frog and toad spawn for the big pond she built in her back garden last year.
However, was shocked to find the place we visited absolutely littered with the skin and bones of unfortunate toads. Can only presume it’s from herons gorging themselves and picking the poor creatures apart. Plenty of live ones still spawning. Can’t recall ever seeing so many live toads, and dead toads, before.
3. Driving back homewards to Nairn, just past Alves a deer suddenly jumped out from the woods and in front of the car, just a couple of feet ahead. No chance of stopping or avoiding collision, and only had reaction time to ensure kept control of the car as we bumped over it.
Pulled over ahead onto the grass verge to run back and check it was dead, and pull the body off the carriageway. But when returned to the car, found I’d got a front wheel stuck in a narrow little drainage ditch. Many thanks to the guy in the Audi who stopped to help push it out.
The kids were a bit shocked by the whole thing I think.
Feels like it’s been a bit of a wild day!
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Brian I can confirm your crow story, have seen it twice now trying to pull your wiper blades from the windscreen, it was really determined and I managed to get really close before it flew away. Re the Roe deer, Hunny lifts them from cover down at the woods in the old quarry, and they are grazing in the gardens in Lochloy road, so watch out passing the golf course late evenings. Have you seen the big hare that has started to visit the street, Sunday night it was in my garden eating my spring flowers.
Nice to see you around, Nairnhandyman.
Re: the hare – I wonder if it’s the same one we had around last year?