And As To The More "Mundane"

It's all well and good writing about UFOs, the paranormal and so forth, however, a naturalist still has to do what a naturalist has to do.

Note that vicious black wild cat has been killing mice in the garden and even a pigeon.

Note hedgehogs getting larger as they feed for the winter by returning to the food put out for them throughout the night -seems to be a shortage of hedgies usual insect food due to heatwave and lack of rain this year.

Fewer gall wasp eggs on oak tree.

Inspect fox scat outside back door.  Be wary of fierce wild cat.

Scat looks okay and I know now that the foxes have been fed by others and are not (sadly) that wary of people and they should be.  They are wild canids not pets.

Avoid "cute trap" set by fierce wild cat.

Hedgehog poop by door.  They are so 'grateful' for the food.  :-)  Healthy enough and I should think so seeing that they eat good food while bashing the dish into the gloass door pane!

Generally people report "black stuff like tar pellets" -hedgehog poop.  I had one neighbour who almost came to blows with another neighbour.  He insisted the neighbour was throwing bits of "tar" into his garden.  He pointed out a piece to me. "Not tar?  Well I still don't like that *****!"

Oh, humanity.

hmm. Also checked some vomit but it was full of grass -so cat and no visible parasites. 

Checked bird droppings to see what they had been eating this summer.  Inspected the garden spiders' webs -loaded with tiny flies so spiders doing fine.

Wasps still coming around looking for protein and taking off bits of food left by cats and hedgies -it really is surrealistic watching a wasp fly off with a chunk of chicken almost half its own size -and I have a lousy camera!

Squirrels eating and burying food -one for four hours the other day!  Mediated in the two cats and squirrel dispute.

Owls heard loudly for the first time in a few years last week.  Mice and shrews so no wonder they are back in the gardens.

Rooks, crows, jackdaws and pigeons, wood pigeons, collared doves (young new pair) getting food. Smaller bird species eating well including robin, great and blue tits, dunnocks and house sparrows.

Only thing really depressing is my bank account.

Ahh, you gotta love poop inspection first thing in the morning!