Magic Moments

So there I was, shoveling cow muck on to the fruit tree bed to be having just finished weeding it and digging it over when a flash of movement caught my eye.

A stoat had just run across the road towards LB12.

I put my spade down and walked slowly and quietly to the gates. And then stood on a flower pot - crunch. Bugger!

I thought I had scared him away as I looked in vain. But then his head popped up from the pile of stones by the gate.

I watched him for a couple of minutes, appearing and then disappearing back in amongst the stones only to emerge again from a different gap. He stared straight at me a couple of times but didn't seem overly concerned - there was a wall between us.

I decided to chance my luck and get my camera, but didn't hold out much hope of him still being there.

But there he still was...for another couple of minutes before he departed stage left for Margaret's verge.

Berwickshire News Misses Animal Scoop Story

A mother and her family of three had a near miss encounter with a lorry at Whitemire stud.

An eye-witness gives the following account:
"I was walking back home with my two greyhounds, Poncho and Jen, when I heard the lorry approaching behind me. I turned to see where it was and pulled the dogs onto the verge. As I turned back I saw four stoats run into the middle of the road and stop. I held my breath as the lorry thundered on towards them. At the last moment they made a dash for it, and I saw them all reach safety and disappear through the hedge on the other side of the road."

The above is for Huttonian in case he is having animal-story withdrawal symptoms - although he hasn't yet featured our neighbours' (Sheila and Margaret) success with Australian terrier Melba at the Kelso show :)

Poncho had his own encounter with wildlife yesterday. In a quick internet search trying to find out what to do I found a great deal of conflicting advice. I decided a quick trip to the vet's open surgery was the most sensible course of action, where the offending tick was removed free of charge. I have now invested in an 'otom' tick remover kit...