B and I have a go at being nature detectives: first in a large country garden.
265 – Being nature detectives in a rural garden
Thursday 10 April. Sunny. 9°C
We’re trying something new today. We’ve been living for five days in a big house in the middle of the country. The garden is surrounded by fields and we’ve seen hares and pheasants out in them. One of the family mention seeing hares in the garden early in the morning (they might be rabbits but we have all decided they’re hares as they look longer, leaner and with bigger ears than our pet rabbits at home) so B and I head out to see if we can find evidence they’ve been there.
Once outside we immediately find an interloper. A little black cat is hiding behind some flowers (we wonder what it was watching before we turned up). It’s friendly and open to stroking. Once it’s left, we start our hunt. It’s not hard to see traces of hares. The grass is covered with droppings. We (well I, B’s not getting her hands dirty) pick some up to make a 265. I wonder how they’ve got in and we make our way round the edge of the garden looking at the fence. There are a few little gaps and then we find a big hole at the back.
We also find some tunnels – too small for hares but possibly belonging to moles. There’s no mole hills but there are a few places where a mole hill might have been stamped down. We find a dead pigeon in a corner of the outhouse and try and work out how it died (from a distance). It’s perfectly preserved and we give up. Pretty sure the little black cat couldn’t have done it.
We really enjoy ourselves and after heading back in (and washing our hands) I resolve to try this one again. It would be a good one for a woodland walk maybe?
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