The arrival of Swallows in the U.K , always in my mind - herald the salubrious slide in to summer , and their gathering and sudden departure , the onset of the oncoming chill …………………….
Poetic licence apart - up until last week I had never actually seen a Swallow at rest.
………..Only ever - wheeling magnificently across , painted skies, their calling as a welcome to a kaleidoscope of summers gone ……………….
Wooop’s - digressed yet again :)
Anyway - today one was sat on the top of a door and did it look strange – very tall , and elongated with no neck , and due to its colouration , it actually looked like a cloaked - vampire…………………ready to strike :)
This was the only sign of wildlife this morning , and there were no - pheasants , deer or even rabbits , which is strange, considering I was the only human around at that time.
I was just wondering if the Countryside Rangers with the rifles that were chasing the injured deer , were around again , when I rounded the corner to the wood and saw the reason for the quietness - a red / brown shape glide rapidly through the air and disappear down the hill in a flurry of red tail…………..yes it was one of natures own hunters……a fox :)
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again , in all the years I’ve been riding this way in to work I’ve never seen a fox , but since the barbaric practice of foxhunting was banned I’ve seen three , and these are a wonderful addition to our countryside- again .
Yes - I agree at times their numbers do need controlling , and that’s where the guys with the guns come in , and not the sicko’s who gain gratification from chasing an animal in to the ground , then watch while it is ripped apart by a pack of baying hounds , and ….
…………………..oh it gets even “ better” …………………
…………..covering their children in the fox’s blood ….yes really !!!
Oscar Wilde got it right all those years ago ……………………..
……………“ The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable “…………………..
