One major difference with Yorkshire living and Birmingham living is the sheer wonderful openness of life here.
Everywhere I go, half a mile in any direction is countryside.
This means that there is an awful lot of wildlife out here as well.
And we all know how well wildlife and roads get on don't we?
Everywhere I drive I pass by roadkill after roadkill.
Pheasants are top of the roadkill pops, being the officially stupidest birds in the world. A Pheasant will change it's ridiculous hopping flight to career into the path of a car. If necessary, it will change direction four or five times to commit birdy hari kari.
Now, today I had to pop home from work to pick up the usb stick I'd forgotten this morning.
On the way home as I'm driving along I see a wuverley wittle baby wabbit sneaking out onto the road. As I pass by it's on the verge, but looking back in the mirror I see it tentatively hop onto the road. Then stop. Then hop a little more until it makes the centre of the road. Then stop again. I'm practically willing it to go faster and make it across.
Looking ahead I see at least 10 cars coming the other way and as I drive on things are not looking good for the widdle wabbit.
And yes, on the way back to school later I had a quick check of the road where the rabbit had been crossing.
All that remains is a rabbit coloured smear of fur and blood.
So cold... so very cold...
Nasty, but Darwin in action, too dumb a bunny to live. My friend takes his greyhound for walks along the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, a spot full of dog-walkers of an evening. Being a greyhound he is partial to chasing the odd rabbit, but things get worse when one rabbit decides the best place to build a new burrow and have a whole pile of teensy-weensy, cute little bunnies is right next to the path walked by a thousand dogs a day.
ReplyDeleteHe managed to restrain his dog, but every time he went out there would be a new dead baby bunny somewhere in the undergrowth, all because of a supremely stupid set of parent bunnies (probably neds or chav bunnies, you know what they are like, never take care of their kids). That would be like some mice deciding to set up a nest next to my cats' litter box.