nature

just a few hours later, it’s like this. nature’s quite amazing really.

so as to avoid making too much noise i popped outside whilst the kettle was boiling and was amazed by all the little water droplets on the lawn. they looked fantastic and the lawn was covered in them. these pictures don’t really do them justice.

as i walked back to my house this evening there were loads of fresh baby birds making their first excited airborne voyage. they sang nice tunes to celebrate the gift of flight

if i walk really fast i can get to the far side of London Zoo and back in my lunch break.
i don’t have time to do anything when i get there, but it’s a nice walk on a nice day
you can see quite a lot without going in:

we went to Polesden Lacey today. we went last easter too. there was no chalk fire engine this time.
however, there was this funny little animal which popped out of a clump of grass next to where we were having a picnic. it was shaped abit like a mini-squirrel but without the tail and was very jumpy. it was also quite ferret like.
we’ve not a clue what it was. any thoughts ? i managed to get some photos of it as it popped it’s head up. it was quite small and far away, hence the poor resolution:

update: as sandi spotted, it’s probably a weasel:
here and here
oh dear. but now i’m not sure if it was actually a Stoat.
Apparently, “the stoat is sometimes mistaken for its close relative, the weasel, but it is larger and has a distinctive black tip to its tail, whereas the weasel’s tail is all brown”. we have no tail pictures to investigate. i don’t think i saw black on the tail.
if it were a weasel, perhaps it tricked us

i spotted it. the first ant of 2004.

it was a wet, cold and miserable day in henley (weather wise), but we were rewarded at the end of the day with an amazing rainbow.
my camera hasn’t got enough of a wide angle to get the full crescent and hasn’t enough zoom to get the full detail. ho hum.

here’s a close-up

a long time ago we had two cats. one of them, billy, used to love drinking tea from a mug. here he is in action. file 32KB in RealMovie format

ferret

buffalo

tony

it’s a little windy today and there’s been a black bin bag floating outside my window for the last 5 minutes.
the wind has transformed an ugly black plastic bin liner in to a beautiful flying machine, dancing and twirling with me as the only audience.

have you ever wondered how bins work ? here is one handily displayed in a cross section so we can see how it all fits together.
someone has put their rubbish in a paper bag. the paper bag sits in the metal bin. the metal bin (the ‘actual’ bin in this case) is then slotted in to a concrete holder which has been purpose built for the purpose.
brilliant isn’t it ?

spring is in the air and the pigeons are getting amorous. these two were snogging so passionately i couldn’t get a decent photo.

a squirrel furtively nibbling an acorn

click for big version

this time an urban tree trap.

here is a funny thing. it’s a tree trap. i’ve read about them, but never seen one in operation before so i sent esther and jane in to demonstrate.
a carnivore tree bends itself flat and reveals its roots. foolish animals (as demonstrated here) then step in to the giant hole left behind. when the moment is right, the tree snaps itself back up vertical thus crushing its prey.
luckily this was a slow one or had already just eaten. either way, nothing happened.