Kera's find.............

On Friday Kera, Poppy and I were walking in a large field where a flock of crows appear to have taken up residence, nothing too unusual in that I'll admit, especially at this time of year when the young birds are active and still on occasion, being fed by their parents.

What made that day unusual was that Kera, who was ambling ahead of me by only a few paces, suddenly stopped in her tracks, sniffing at the ground.  Being a bit behind her I couldn't see what she obviously could so I hurried to catch her up.  Sitting in the tall grass at the edge of the track was an adult crow.  It didn't move as I approached, just watched with unblinking eyes as two strange beings (much larger than it was) peered at it.  Just by looking I could see it was in trouble, the top part of it's beak (mandible) had broken and since this is the hinged part, it could presumably no longer eat. I picked it up very gently and it didn't even struggle, another sign that things had deteriorated beyond much hope.  I could feel it's breast bone, quite literally the poor bird was starving to death.

Of course walking around a field with two dogs off lead is quite different to going home part way with two dogs on lead in one hand a crow in the other!

Maybe it was luck, but both Kera and Poppy were as good as gold; they always walk well together and today was no exception.  It's almost as though they knew - fanciful? maybe, I can't imagine many of my other clients behaving quite so gently or quietly but they truly surpassed themselves.

Once back at the house I wrapped the crow in an old dog towel and took it to the vet.

It had to be put to sleep, and sad though that is, in this instance it was also necessary. 

A beautiful day and a tiny cub.................

I have to apologise in advance for not being able to get a photo of today but hope the ones seconded from past endeavours will help the impression along........

Jada and I were walking along the river bank at lunchtime; the river was beautiful, the tide was coming in and the sky was cornflower blue, the swans were bobbing along in a little convoy and all was right with our world.   In fact it was such a nice day that I couldn't help walking on a little further than normal and there were no complaints from Jada as we ambled along.

As we rounded a corner, in front of us on the right, was a fox - it was just sitting there, not moving and for an awful moment I thought it was injured and all the possible causes - and solutions - jumbled around for juxtaposition in my over active brain.  I stopped, and Jada, not watching where she was going, bumped straight into me, looking up questioningly at the seemingly abrupt end to her walk. I put her lead on and she just sat down looking past me to where the fox was still sitting.

In fact it hadn't moved a muscle that I could see and I was just trying to decide what to do when out of the corner of my eye I saw the smallest cub.

It can't have been more than about 6 weeks old and was running as quickly as it's little legs would carry it into the undergrowth and safety.  Seconds later the fox moved, a brief flash of red as she followed it and was gone.

I can't imagine a time when I won't still be wowed by the river and its wildlife, every day is different and it's not something I ever take for granted, but today's sight was something I've never seen before, not at such close quarters - what a privilege.

And what a brave mum, ready to take on the world for her cub..........