Life and death

Not a dead sheep, she just couldn't get up anymore.

Sometimes when you walk, you come across slightly less pretty sights. Like dead animals. So, warning up front: this will show you some of them!

 

Recently I came across a dead bird, which was blue. It took me a bit to realise what it was though, as I couldn't think of any blue birds at all. But on carefully turning it over (hoping there were no maggots crawling about), I thought it was a tit.

On another walk, I came across some white in a ditch. On closer inspection (look, no touch), I realised it must be a dead swan and had been there for some time by the looks of it. Slowly decomposing and going back into the cycle of life.

And yet another day, I saw this tiny little mouse, lying at the side of the road. It looked quite peaceful really. As that walk was well over two weeks ago now, I doubt there is anything left of it now. 

The creatures I meet

On Saturday I did another walk. I knew I had to follow the purple (or red) signs for the 9 km route. So, I did and was back within 2 km. I should have followed the green route. So, I did and it was only 7 km. But, in total it was just over 9 so I was happy.

On my walk I saw many different birds and other assorted animals. One of them you met yesterday: the pig. He was in a pen with a mate, but the mate didn't want to turn around to get his or her photo taken. Gone is being known throughout the world!

I finally managed to get some of those smaller birds that continually elude me. I got a lovely sparrow and a great tit. I also managed to capture a very odd bird indeed. Mind you, that one did stay still at least!

But, I think my greatest ones were of the birds of prey. I managed to capture several different ones, although I am only showing you one of them now. The first one where he is sitting on a fence post and the second one in flight.

Another reason to keep walking with my camera in hand.

Miss Oswin is on the hunt

Miaow

Wow, it has been a long time since I was allowed here. I know Mara sometimes tells you a bit about me, but I think it's very important to make sure I do tell you about the MBF in the WWU myself. Just so you won't forget...

The tree in which they reside we think
look closely and you can see an adult great tit

And today I will tell you all about my hunting skills. Because this week I didn't catch one, but two birds! The first one was a baby great tit (oh, Mara told you about it), but Mara took it from me and after that I wasn't allowed out anymore that day. 

Chittering on the fence

Yesterday I was sitting next to Mara in the garden and there was another great tit just chattering away to us. It was hopping from one end of the fence to the other and back and just chittering and chattering. I didn't move a muscle, although I would have liked to have caught it, I can tell you.

You just fly, I will catch you someday!

Today I was allowed out again because the weather is quite nice right now. And all of a sudden I saw another little birdie. With an almighty jump I caught it and brought it in. Where Mara got hold of me and locked me in the kitchen! And when I came back out the birdie was gone. I will have to catch another one now to play with...

The first great tit

Note from the editor: the first baby great tit was very alert and very determined to get as far away from my hands as possible. As it was fledging anyway, I put it in the garden and crossed my fingers for a safe return to its parents.

It looked really sad in my dad's hand

Alas the second baby great tit was perhaps fledging (as it was on the fence where Miss Oswin caught it), but after being caught it was definitely not alert. It barely moved apart from breathing. My dad put it at the other side of the house near a garden wall, where we hope it will be okay, although Miss Oswin isn't the only feline roaming the streets here and it was in a fairly bad state. 

Some stuff that happened

Venice, and I do the line to 'Dutch Venice'.

When I first started working for my 'old' company, I had some days with touring work. I liked it, it was like the old days. But I knew that if I said to the jobs during the day, it wouldn't be long before those jobs would extend into very early morning or late evening/night. Not what I wanted anymore and I told them I would prefer to stick to my public transport line.

I call it public transport because it is open to everybody (as long as they pay), but I do not drive the regular line. I drive the tourist line. With a lot of people from the Asian continent, which occasionally means having to roll my eyes in disbelief and sighing very deeply. Their English is sometimes very good and sometimes non-existent. And the latter especially requires heavy eye rolling!

Rembrandt's Night Watch in sand

But there are also things that make me smile. Sometimes with passengers, often with stuff on the outside. During spring there were a lot of geese in the area. They are still there now really, but they all fly now. During the spring they walk, as their young can't fly yet. And seeing Mummy Goose, several goslings and Daddy Goose crossing the road is fun. It gets less fun when not only the Goose Family, but the extended Gooses cross, as you can sometimes sit there for nearly five minutes for all of them to cross. Unfortunately no photos.

Whereas the Gooses come with both mum and dad, the Ducks come with mum only. But she leads them with the same determination as the Gooses! And when she has tiny newly hatched ducklings, there is a huge ooooooh-factor, including from the passengers.

"I am gonna get you"

The other day I saw two dogs, a big one and a smaller one, the smaller rubbing against the big dog. As I got closer however, I realised it was a large dog and a cat! That was a smile for me. 

Because much of the area I drive through is adjacent to a National Park, nature is beautiful. Trees and flowers are fantastic to see change through the seasons. Talking about National Parks: I once had a lady who came at the end of the day and she wanted to visit said park. She wanted to see the mountains! Ehm... there are no mountains, it's flat here. But it's a National Park, she replied... 

The last thing I wanted to share with you has nothing to do with work. But the other day I went into a fast food restaurant to get a McKroket and as I was waiting for it to be prepared, a girl was called forward. The server wondered whether her order was right, as she had ordered a cheeseburger. Without cheese! 

Miss Oswin gets excited

Miaow

Well, finally! I have wanted to tell you about what's happening to me for about 87 days now. Don't worry though: nothing bad has happened. To me...

First things first though. I am allowed to go out nearly every day. Sometimes I stay out all day, not coming back until it's dark, other days I come back in all the time. You have to keep two-leggers on their toes you know! 

A few feathers and some down

One day I came back and Mara petted me and said: not good! So, I stayed quiet while Mara figured out what was wrong. It was a tick! Yuck! But Mara and Oma removed it and I have been completely okay.

The other day though, I was allowed out and was having a grand time and when I came in, I had something else with me: a baby bird! And I was not going to let go. Mara and Oma were quite devious however and in the end I was locked in the kitchen with Oma and Mara did something to the bird. 

When I was let out of the kitchen again, she said the bird was alive, but there were some feathers missing and there was some blood. I wasn't allowed outside again to give the birdie a chance. The rest of the day Mum Dad was chirping and chirping and chirping to get her young to follow her. The following day I was let out again and immediately Mum Dad started chirping again. Until I went in and Oma shut the door. Mara says she thinks the bird has survived and is recovering from the ordeal. 

Today I am not allowed to go out though. And they used the sucky thing as well. I had better rest up for my next adventures then...

The left side was caught between the jaws of doom (Miss O's teeth)
but it was taking food (worms) and fluttered up a few branches afterwards

Enjoying the spring weather

A zew? A cobra? Whatever it was, it was weird!

Last week I showed my Mum's orchids to join in for Nature Friday, which is organised by those lovable canines Rosy, Arty and Jakey. This week I decided to enjoy the nature that was actually outside and helped by the absolute gorgeous weather (summer temperatures in February), that wasn't a hardship at all.

I already showed you some of the photos I took with my smaller camera and decided I needed to go back with my better camera to get some really good shots. I had planned to do it on Wednesday, when the weather was still really lovely, but in the end I went on Thursday. The temperatures were still good, the sky not so much. 

The home of the...

But I still managed to get some good shots. Now, there was one main reason I really wanted to go back for and I know I will be back later in the year as well, because what I saw were...

...stork

Storks! Usually storks travel south for the winter, but there are always some that find their home in the Netherlands nice enough to stay during the colder months and as long as there is enough food and the weather doesn't become too atrocious, they should be fine. 

I didn't just see storks though, there were also a lot of geese. Not sure whether they are on their way north already, or whether they stayed as well for the winter. There were quite a few of them in the flood plain of the River IJssel and occasionally some of them would take off, honking for the others it seemed.

The third animal I saw, albeit from a distance, were bees. There were about 10 hives or so and there was already a lot of activity in front of them. There won't be much for the bees yet though, although daffodils are starting to flower already. 

Pollard willows that have just had the chop

Do you know I spent my teenage years in this town and I moved back home to my parental home now. I had never realised it was so close to the River IJssel! Only five minutes on my bike and there is peace and quiet and birds. Fingers crossed for curlews during summer!

Nature Friday

Linette when she already lived at Pepperfly's. She loved plants!

I don't often join in, but today I will. As you know I have recently moved back in with my parents in the Netherlands. When I was growing up, the window sill would be filled with plants. Geraniums and other iums and ias and whathaveyous. My grandmothers, my aunts and basically everybody I knew had plants on the window sill. 

Over the years less and less people have their whole sill full. Most have a few plants and then some ornaments. I never had a lot of plants, but I did have a few. Which were sometimes appropriated by a cat...

As Miss O lives here now as well, my mother decided to make some room for her. Very much appreciated by Miss O, but there was one sill that my mother decided not to empty. There is a bit of room, but there are also four pots of orchids there. And my mother is very proud of them. 

She bought the orchids several years ago when they were in full bloom. But once they had stopped blooming, she didn't throw them out, she kept them and tried to get them to bloom again. Which she managed beautifully. 

A bit scary this one, but still my favourite of them all!

So, today I am not going to bring you nature as it is outside, but as it is inside. Well, sort of anyway, as I took each separate orchid and took photos of them that way...

Fortunately Miss O has decided that they are not for her and so far she hasn't really tried to climb into any of them. Although my mother saw her dip her paw in one of the other plants this morning: she had just watered them all and there was some water in the dish!

This post was written as part of Nature Friday, organised by the lovable canines at LLB in Our Backyard.

Clippety-clop

It wasn't one of these

The other night as I was lying in bed, trying to sleep, I heard this strange noise. Like an animal in distress. And a large animal at that. It wasn't a sound I had ever heard before and it was quite a strange noise as well. Should I get out of bed and check it out?

In the end I didn't. A tame kitty-cat is one thing, a large unknown wild animal is a completely different one. Then I heard the rustling of a bush, as if the large animal had gone straight through. I heard the clippety-clop of hooves on the road and thought the animal had managed to get him/herself out of trouble. Until the noise started up again. 

Eventually, the second animal ceased its noisiness as well and clippety-clopped away. Well, I say away, I heard it clippety-clopping in the area for quite some time. But fortunately the other noise had stopped and I eventually fell asleep.

But probably more like one of these
Photo taken in Scotland in 2008

When I told my sister about it on Wednesday, she came up with a very plausible explanation. It hadn't been an animal in distress (or several), it is the rutting season for deer! Basically, two deer had either had a tiff, or there had been a bit of loving going on. 

I wish I had opened the window now to have a look...

Flower Friday

As I made my way through the Antrim Castle Gardens, there were plenty of flowers to enjoy. Some already past their best, others just starting to bloom. And I thought: why not join Flower Friday as hosted by Arty, Jakey and Rosy with all those blooms! 

Most of the gardens were pretty green with trees and grass, but there were several borders with some flowers in them. Of course I don't know the name of most flowers (can name a tulip and a daisy, neither were there), meaning if you want to know more about them: don't ask me!

I do know this one though: lavender! I even ran my hand up one of them to smell. Don't worry: it was one without bee!

Walking around and trying to take nice photos usually involves getting on my knees as well (no photos of that). Fortunately, despite the heavy rain an hour earlier, the ground was pretty dry and I didn't get too dirty!

I loved these. They had a bit of the thistle about them (which reminded me of Yamini), but their bloom had gone. The colour of the stalks was lovely though: grey/blue/purple. 

Another flower that I should really know the name of, but nope. It never came to me. But they are as pretty without the name I can tell you!

These look like my favourite flowers (Sweet William) and might even be, but they weren't exactly the ones I prefer. Very pretty though!

Isn't nature incredible in making perfect round shapes without any bother? I try to do that freehand and I end up with an egg! Which apparently is not a flower!!

My very favourite photo of the day however was this one. The allium family I believe, so not all is lost. I don't usually crop photos, preferring to show as taken, but this one needed a bit, since there was a slight hedge border on the bottom. This one might actually end up being made into one of my 'arty' photos to hang on the wall!