Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
A Meaty Mystery and A Dark Stranger
by admin - 16:38 on 09 January 2011
Pine martens can be as picky as pussycats when it comes to their stomachs, it seems.
Yesterday, not a morsel was left of Master Marten's supper; this morning, much of the luncheon meat and some of the corned beef was untouched, although his regular fare was all eaten.
Bess may be to blame. She left the house yesterday evening, despite the snow, to take care of business. Or so Matchgirl and I thought. Moments later she was seen on the windowsill, wolfing down the meat left out for martens. Cat food has lately not been to her taste.
We replenished the supply, and an hour later a greedy moggy sneaked out again. This time I dissuaded her from stealing Master Marten's supper, but I'm certain I heard the cat-flap bang just minutes after Matchgirl and I retired to bed.
Some was left, for there it was this morning – but not for long. Blue tits quickly seized on this new source of protein and began a concerted airlift that cleared the top of the gate and the windowsill of leftovers.
This surprised me until I considered blue tits' liking for fat and bacon rind. Now I'm unsure who consumed the first meaty offerings – martens or a pragmatic alliance of cats and birds.
On the subject of birds, today I managed to get my first snaps of the black-feathered great tit that visits the garden with his more-colourful chums. They aren't wonderful, and, being a would-be proper wildlife snapper, I wouldn't usually include a feeder in my composition, but the interest here is the genetic oddity. Has anyone else seen such a thing?
To brighten things up I'll finish with a more colourful contrast. You can never go wrong with a robin
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