I think our most unexpected visitor was a hedgehog. It was certainly confused too! It trundled rapidly round the edge of the grass, time after time after time. I don't know how it got into the garden, unless it had walked along the front pavement and then along the path by the side of my house. Clearly the hedgehog didn't remember how it got in either, for it couldn't find its way back out again. When we went to bed, it was still trundling rapidly round the garden. By morning time, it had gone.
On another occasion I found some small holes in the grass, about 2" in diameter. They appeared sporadically over a few evenings, and then I spotted the culprit - a fox digging for worms. I don't think there are many under the grass, which was just as well, since it kept the foxes away. Some of my neighbours were being bothered by the foxes too, so I put down some Keep Off smelly jelly, and the foxes didn't come back.
For several years we have had a pair of field mice living in the garden, although clearly sometimes they die in the garden too! I recall my daughter, when just a few years old, appearing proudly at the back door, holding something gingerly by her finger-tips at arms-length. "See what I found", she said. It was a dead mouse! They stripped all the gooseberries off my gooseberry bushes one year, although strangely, not again - perhaps they decided they weren't so good after all! We have often seen them near the house, gathering the seeds the birds drop from their feeders. But they have never come into the house - which is a relief! But I've not seen our pair of mice since the winter weather - I fear they didn't make it through.
During that winter weather, we had a less savoury visitor to the bird table, a brown rat! I'm a bit colour blind, and I though it was a grey squirrel, with a rather thin tail. And then I got a closer look, and realised it wasn't a squirrel! I'm delighted to say that visitor has never been back.
Of course, we have had grey squirrels around the place, especially once I got enthusiastic with the bird feeding. But they too have been scarce since the winter. Maybe a fair number of them didn't make it through the winter either.
Cats, on the other hand, have not been scarce. Mostly they keep their distance, down near the bottom of the garden, but every now and again, one of them manages to catch one of the birds. A cat gets short shrift from me if I see it in the garden. Anyway, cats are not wild, although they might think they are!
We've had the occasional dog too, but always accompanied by their owner. I think our garden would be too boring for dogs, but maybe the cats would keep them amused! So our doggy visitors are not wild either.
But the wild animal I was most pleased to discover in the garden was a frog. For some years I've wanted a pond in the garden, to provide a place for frogs, toads, and newts, to live in. But we don't have a pond. So when I found the frog, I was astonished. They must be near water to live. So perhaps the old bird bath, or the occasional rain puddle, were enough to keep it going. I only saw it the two times. Once in the late evening, when it was dark and raining. The frog was on the slabs at the back of the house, and I nearly stood on it. The other time was in the daytime. A cat was playing with something on the grass - and when I chased it away, I discovered the frog, flattened against the grass, and playing hard to get. It sat still in the sunshine, while I got my camera, and then conveniently posed for a few shots before leaping away into the borders. You've already seen the 'posed' shot above, and I managed to catch it leaping off, as you can see below.
Well, I was going to talk about our wild bird visitors, but that's enough for today, so the birds will have to wait until another time.
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