Pre-flight Duckling Chaos

So last month I went away (hence the abysmal lack of posts) and in so doing there existed a brief half hour of time in which I needed to:
1.get from work to home,
2. de-suit,
3. prep-for-travel,
4. get in a cab and head to the airport.
So you can imagine why I was slightly concerned when between step 1 and step 2 I heard a maniacal and persistent cheeping in the vicinity of my front door.

One of our resident mallards had hatched out ducklings in the vicinity of the house, was leading them along the driveway as I pulled in and as a result was now attempting to herd a load of frightened ducklings off a not unbusy road (to which they had fled in fright at the sound of my car).

The end result? Your hero spent a chunk of the half-hour herding ducklings and nearly missed his flight. Here's some cuteness.


going the wrong way.....again.


climbing the steps. yes that is a drain on the left and yes, yes one did jump in and need fishing out.


too cute to be mad at though right?

life in the tree tops

recently back from the legendary Canopy Tower in Panama. Some treetop life from the Rainforest Discovery Centre tower....

epiphytic orchids.


keelbilled toucans




red-tailed squirrel


spot the blue cotinga?

fruit

wild pear in a waitrose car park....




Medlar "Royal" in my orchard....

Hog!!

Nearly ran this 'hog over on the way home Wednesday. Note the blue dyejob and the earring - this is a released 'hog - one that has probably spent its winter in the warm being fed as opposed to hibernating.



Hence the girth and the total lack of fear of me.

 

which allowed for some rather lovely close-ups.



This shot was taken just as the hedgehog turned and walked off. I love the detail on the little foot - something you don't get to see very often. Look at those little claws and hairs. wonderful.

 
Hopefully I'll see "sonic" again soon.

The World's rarest cat

 About 2 months ago, I was sat in a car driving into the heart of Sierra Andujar to look for the Iberian Lynx. It was early in the morning still barely dawn. It was far colder than expected and conditions were bleak. The Iberian Lynx is the world's rarest cat with a global population of less than 300. We were looking for a highly camouflaged needle in a haystack......

....and then I saw something walking down a hill towards the road. I shouted "lynx", the car stopped and this happened.






Sorry the video's not great but it was the rarest cat in the world, it was dark and my hands were shaking. To tell the truth they're shaking now and I can taste the adrenalin again just thinking about how lucky we got.