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 Face From The Past

by admin - 23:22 on 30 May 2012

Pine martens are the UK's second-rarest animal, Springwatch revealed tonight. Only wildcats are harder to see. A few weeks ago I would have laughed smugly, but that was before Bess became such an efficient marten deterrent.

She spends much of the day curled up next to the garden gate and much of the evening curled up on the old chopping block, from where she can keep an eye on the whole garden. Where she spends much of the night is unknown, but I suspect lots of patrolling takes place. No wonder she's losing weight (to Matchgirl's consternation).

I may be blaming our moggy unfairly. Most of the previous years' snaps were taken in June and July, and the Bushnell still captures martens every night, so there could be plenty of opportunities to come. I was spoiled by getting such a good snap last month.

It's quite some time since I've seen Mrs Marten, so it was a welcome surprise to find her, when she was still a Miss, on the Springwatch blog. Her portrait, snapped in late May 2010 (only the second day that year I'd managed an image worth keeping), topped a spotter's guide to UK mustelids. The BBC hadn't asked me, but my Flickr link was included so that's OK. The same snap was used on the Springwatch Facebook page.

I told them I had a much better and more recent snap but they resisted the temptation to use it on tonight's programme. Shame. Maybe they're saving it for later.

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