A few developments since our last blog.

 

We had some very sad news yesterday. Merlin, our grand big lad of a cat was taken very ill on Saturday back home. Jo, Pete, Em and Dan took great care of him and got him to the vet as quickly as possible. Sadly, though he fought hard (as you'd expect!!) he passed away on Monday morning, the vet thinks as a result of some form of insecticide poisoning. a bad end to a really good lad who lived a good life. We miss him and can only thank the four folks and Jane the vet for their care and affection towards him. He is now back home, making sure 'rival' Leroy does not take over!!

 

In the last couple of days we have done a bit of ringing, some nice easy netting at a small Sand Martin colony in a farm yard produced 40 birds, with the promise of more when young start to fledge.

 

A walk in the woods yesterday, when we were feeling a bit low, was lifted by finding we were following the recent trail of a couple of Brown Bear, judging by the size of prints an adult and cub. The prints were very fresh, which added a certain spice to the rest of the walk through a quiet forest!!! Later, we checked the camera trap we had left looking over a fallen tree and stump, liberally laced with Raspberry jam. Success, a great clip of a Pine Martin, running along the tree before scent-marking and disappearing into the night. Even more surprising was a clip of two walkers who discovered the camera and spent a few minutes debating what it was and how it worked. Berit and Bernt, our hosts, translated and confirmed they came to the right conclusion eventually!!