Today has been a wonderful day - the entire afternoon having been spent productively in the garden. We have finally dug over a large portion of the top border in the back garden and I managed to get a number of plants out of pots and into the border.
The day has been dominated by the wildlife that we've seen and in particular the antics of a rather foolish little vole. I first saw it just after lunchtime, rooting around the pots of box. We watched it for quite a while and then Ian decided that it would be safest if we chased it back into hiding as William is rather partial to catching rodents. Surprisingly it refused to be chased away and settled for sitting between a pot and a brick, munching seeds. I managed to get closer and closer without it being bothered and eventually rested my camera on the brick, 2 inches away from his nose. It did not even stop eating when I proceeded to stroke it. One tame little vole.
Whilst we would be happy to have a tame vole in general, this does not fit in too well with William. So Ian caught it in his hands and we put it in a bucket, proceeded to place it in some vegetation and hoped it would be safe. Twice more it ventured out of the vegetation and straight into the open space of the new border I was digging over. No cover for yards around and there it was happily wandering about. When he decided to approach within 1 foot of William (who luckily didn't even notice) we decided that something more serious had to be done.
The day has been dominated by the wildlife that we've seen and in particular the antics of a rather foolish little vole. I first saw it just after lunchtime, rooting around the pots of box. We watched it for quite a while and then Ian decided that it would be safest if we chased it back into hiding as William is rather partial to catching rodents. Surprisingly it refused to be chased away and settled for sitting between a pot and a brick, munching seeds. I managed to get closer and closer without it being bothered and eventually rested my camera on the brick, 2 inches away from his nose. It did not even stop eating when I proceeded to stroke it. One tame little vole.
Whilst we would be happy to have a tame vole in general, this does not fit in too well with William. So Ian caught it in his hands and we put it in a bucket, proceeded to place it in some vegetation and hoped it would be safe. Twice more it ventured out of the vegetation and straight into the open space of the new border I was digging over. No cover for yards around and there it was happily wandering about. When he decided to approach within 1 foot of William (who luckily didn't even notice) we decided that something more serious had to be done.
So our vole spent an hour in our recycling box whilst we had dinner and then took a trip in the car to Mincinglake Valley Park where we released him. Fingers crossed that he lives a happy little life.
1 comment:
What a delightful little story. I'm lovoing hearing about your garden progress...
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