Wildlife special and farewell to an old friend

Hello and welcome to the first blog of June 2021. Rain and thunderstorms have kept us at home this week so no more travel pictures for you, but we do have a new selection of wildlife pictures from the trail camera.

This is our first sighting of a badger, a bit fuzzy around the edges but it gives you an idea.

Michael actually stumbled across a mother and three of her cubs as he was up in the woods looking for a new place to put the camera. As soon as they saw him they turned tail and ran but we did capture a selection of pictures of them coming and going from the den in the night.

This was a rare daytime shot of a very curious deer tentatively heading past the camera. We also have a video with a close up of her nose and the sound of a lot of lip-smacking, so close it seems as if the deer was actually licking the camera!

A blue jay – one of many that we see on a regular basis flying across the field and into the woods. No doubt there will be babies later on.

A picture taken a few months ago of a young wild boar.

This is a stone marten and apologies for it being out of focus but they move so quickly it was a wonder we got this at all.

A daytime shot of one of the young cubs.

And now I have some sad news. Our dog, Maddie, has been unwell for some time and she finally took a turn for the worse, to the point where we had to make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep this week. I know that anyone who has had an animal and gone through this process knows all too well how it feels.   Having been through this with three dogs it doesn’t get any easier, but the vet was incredibly kind, both to Maddie and to me! She was also extremely professional so Maddie wasn’t stressed at all and just passed away quietly. She would have been fourteen this year and she had a good life and that’s the most you can hope for.

My father-in-law very kindly sent me this picture of me holding Maddie when she was a pup – and I was also much younger than I am now! It’s a lovely way to remember her and makes me smile every time I look at it.

The drawing below was done by Michael before she became ill and is included in A Simple Life. I’m so glad he did it as it gives us something else to remember her by.

I’ve had dogs for almost the last thirty years and the home feels very strange without one – the end of an era. However the cats are helping to fill the gap and are reaping the benefits. Now they get the fish or chicken skins that we used to put aside for Maddie and are delighted about it.

On a happier note, the weather is due to get better next week so we are planning a trip to the mountains.  I hope I should have some spectacular pictures to share with you soon.

Take care all.

MJ