While in the village shop the other day, I spotted Marie serving behind the counter.
"I've got a bone to pick with you." I said.
She looked a bit taken aback. "Oh yes?" she asked in a challenging yet polite way.
"We went all the way to find the boars and beavers in your secret location, and didn't see one at all."
"Oh the boars are all there. You just need to watch carefully and once your eyes get accustomed and you spot one, you'll see loads of them."
It sounded like one of those puzzle pictures that look like a mess of squiggles but when you pull it slowly back from your eyes you can (supposedly) see the real image. I can never do those, either. No matter how many times I try it, all I ever see are the squiggles. Despite my inability to see the wood for the trees, I can tell I must return to the boar pens and try and look beyond the mud, foliage and gloomy backdrop to see if I can catch the glint of a boar's eye.
"And as for the beavers," I said, "it turns out they are noctural."
Marie roared with laughter at this.
"Of course they are! I've never seen one. Do you think I go out there in the middle of the night waiting for them to appear?" Apparently the main point of going to the beavers' dam is to see how they make they homes and marvel at their superior carpentry abilities.
Coincidently, this weekend's Sunday Observer had a long article about beavers being re-introduced, in a controlled way, to a specific designated area of Scotland (which did not appear to be where we went, but perhaps this was deliberate obfuscation). Beavers have not been seen in Britain for 400 years but nevertheless whilst there are those who support their re-introduction, there are plenty who protest the experiment. As a beaver can fell a 10-inch wide tree in an hour, and a family of beavers can bring down 300 trees a year, one can see why. Others say beavers are vital to the creation of wetlands. With all this controversy I can see why the beaver trial areas must remain secret. I will give the article to Marie for her comments.
The other animal issue which is high on the priority list is the demise of the American grey squirrel, in order that the red squirrel which is native to the Britain, is not wiped out. These two types of squirrel do not happily co-habit and at the moment the grey squirrel is winning the territorial rights. Spotting a red squirrel is a memorable event and I have been lucky to see one in the cottage garden and another on the golf course. There is a Save the Red Squirrel campaign and in the minutes of the latest council meeting we are all exhorted to report to the authorities any sightings of grey squirrels so they can be summarily dealt with. More information and cute red squirrel photos: http://www.scottishsquirrelsurvey.co.uk/
Deer are a local driving hazard, but for those used to kangaroos leaping out of the bush in front of their cars at twilight, perhaps not quite as daunting as they might be. The other evening three baby deer suddenly shot out of the trees and cavorted across the road in front of my car. Although two fled into the undergrowth, the third was caught in my car headlights and ran ahead of my car for about a kilometre. Oh, for a camera.
Pheasants can be a trifle concerning and unexpected. They play around in the middle of the road, oblivious to the passing cars. Whilst I know one should not swerve to avoid them and risk a collison with oncoming vehicles, they are such superior looking birds that one's instinct is to preserve them - even if it is probably only a short-lived reprieve before they end up being served up as traditional Christmas fare.
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