Mixed Weekend

Quite an active weekend despite I think having a continuing UTI which gets uncomfortable to painful at times and can be embarrassing as well especially if I don't make the loo in time. On Sunday which was a beautifully sunny and warm out of the cool breeze, I visited with a few others of the mammal group to one of the committee members garden which also happens to be a nature reserve. They have dormice in their hedgerow, which was why I was there along with the others hoping to see some. The dormice weren't playing--well they weren't that day, it is still a little early and not that warm, however, our hostess did have something to show us - some harvest mice. Can you believe my blessed camera wouldn't work, stupid thing. I did manage to get a couple of pics on my phone. They were so lovely, even smaller than dormice but a similar sort of colour and almost as gorgeous. I want to see some in the wild now more than ever.

Today, I spent traipsing around looking for otter spraints without any luck at all. I did however get plenty of fresh air and exercise, some of it at the seaside, where I watched a herring gull bashing and eating an unfortunate crab but no sign of otters. We're looking to find evidence that they may use the coast for moving between sites. On the advice of an ex-colleague, she's just retired too, I went poking about in some ruined farm buildings near one of the sites I was surveying for otters. She said she had seen barn owls flying in and out of it. Sadly I didn't see any owls but I did eventually find some pellets which I suspect are from barn owls and also some which I believe are kestrel pellets, a pair of kestrels flew out as I walked towards the buildings.

So, once I finish converting my utility room to a laboratory and decide which binocular microscope I need, I'll have something to play with. Analysing the remains of prey items from the pellets. I saw insect bits, probably wing cases in the kestrel pellets, so that really will be a microscope job to try and identify them. I'm hoping eventually to find a friendly farmer or two to get a supply of pellets and as long as I know the site they came from, the identified species can be used for records in the mammal atlas compiled by the Mammal Society.

See, some of the material I use in my stories is based upon real life, if not all of it.