Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Horrid of Henbury and his faithful Border Collie, Dot the Dog, for another year of sharing with us their daily rambles around the place we call home – Henbury , Cheshire.
Please keep on rambling for us H of H and D t D
Occasional Notes from aDog Walker
December 2024
A wet start to the month – so much so that our little garden pool overtopped and flooded the adjacent lawn. The soakaway we had dug a few years ago was overwhelmed for a couple of days.
Next we had frosts – hard ones. Andertons Lane became an ice-rink in the mornings for a few days (but few motorists seemed to adjust their driving technique).
Nevertheless the wild arum's first foliage appeared under the hedge between the cottages and Henbury rise, perhaps a bit earlier than was once usual. At first there was a single plant but within a couple of days another three appeared.
The sparrow hawk came again to perch above the bird feeders, but the smaller birds seemed to have anticipated it – they had taken refuge in the adjacent hedge a few moments before it arrived. She is a magnificent bird with greyish back and wings, reddish brown breast and long yellow legs. If she spots us moving in our vantage point by the kitchen window she flies off fast and low over the garden hedge – so low that it's a wonder she doesn't come to grief.
Dot the Dog was greatly interested one morning by a scattering of white fur on our walk to the cottages; an unfortunate rabbit had evidently fallen foul of the local fox. It's strange – whenever we come across a probable kill, there is only white fur. I suppose the rabbit runs and the faster fox grabs it by its tail end and carries it off – we've never come across an actual corpse. A fox spraint was on the footpath not far away.
The weather became mildishly cold – and dank. The sparrow hawk became a regular visitor. One morning a group of long-tailed tits hit our feeders, and within moments the hawk appeared, rapidly swept across the garden and over the hedge; we think she picked up a tit on the way, but the others once they thought the coast was clear, resumed feeding. Another morning I spotted the hawk sitting in our damson tree, watching the feeders for a good five minutes. I went to get my binoculars, and by the time I returned it had gone.
The kestrel reappeared. I hadn't seen it for several weeks. Initially it was quite high up, riding the wind, and then it came lower to about fifteen or twenty feet and I assumed it had spotted a possible quarry. Dot the Dog insisted on getting home for her breakfast and I had to follow (she had better traction in the mud than I did) so I never saw the bird stoop and /or catch. A day or two later S and I watched from the kitchen window as eventually gave up and flew off.
"And so this is Christmas" – to borrow a from a song. Christmas Day was dull and dank, but as DtD and I walked the village in the morning it was clear that many households were preparing their festivities. By afternoon a buzzard looked for a thermal current (or perhaps a road-kill on Church Lane). It was mobbed by four crows and
walkies there was no-one about – so post-turkey somnolence must have set in (or afternoon telly!).
Boxing Day brought fog – three days of it. The fog itself brought silence (even the sirens of emergency vehicles on Chelford Road were muffled and there were no airport take-offs for Dot to bark at). The banks and walls on either side of Andertons Lane seemed to trap the densest mist and I had to rely on DtD's superior hearing to warn of oncoming vehicles, cyclists and other dog-walkers that neither of us could see far ahead. Many drivers annoyed Dot by driving fast in impossible conditions – and I was appalled by the absence of lights on so many cars (van drivers were all lit up and moving cautiously; you might not expect that). Figures loomed up only a few feet away that I had not seen but Dot had heard.
The sparrow hawk visited several times, perched in bedraggled fashion, and flew away. The small birds seemed to have rather given up feeding. The starlings raided the bird table as usual, but the feeders were almost ignored by the tits and finches. Perhaps they were eating the minimum they needed to keep going and were relying on the insulation and shelter of the thick hedge to keep warm.
At last a clear and sunny day came with picture-perfect views of Shutlingsloe and Macclesfield Forest after rain before. Dot the Dog was less interested in the view than in the wildlife trails she wanted to follow, but since they went under the hedges I had to hold her back – I couldn't get through!
Things became "unseasonal". Snowdrops and narcissi poked up their first leaves rather early and pussy willow was spotted.
New Year's Eve – the wind got up and flying débris had to be ducked on our afternoon walk. We noticed an unusual fungus growing in the bark of a hawthorn tree. The app on my mobile phone ("Picture This") identified it as a cyphelloid fungus that grows on old bark on old (i.e. coming-to-the-end-of-their-life) trees. Then came rain!
As ever
Horrid of Henbury
.