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Occasional Notes from a Dog Walker

19th January 2022 – by Henbury Webteam
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dot the dog

Let me introduce Dot the Dog.......

She may be familiar to some readers, storming up Anderton's Lane with me in tow and over into the fields every morning – no small talk with other dogs – she only wants to get on and play ball!

More or less every day she takes me out, whether or not I feel like it. I suppose it's good for me. However, it does give the chance to see what's going on in what remains of the rural bits of our village and DtD gets a chance to shout at the diggers and machinery on the building site.

The cygnet remains in residence on the big field-flood, and has been joined by several ducks and Canada geese, but the really big flocks of geese seem to have moved on (just before Christmas I lost count at 50 or so). In the last few days a pair of coots have also moved in. This morning they were "having a bit of a Barney" (as coots do). Last winter the mallards were joined by a snow-white duck – presumably an escapee from a domesticated environment. We haven't seen it yet this year.

Several days ago we saw the kestrel seeking its breakfast – hovering high until it spotted something moving, then down to only a few metres above ground to get a better look before pouncing. It flew off with its catch – presumably some hapless mouse or vole. DtD stalks them too but has no success; I suspect from her technique she got the idea from the farm cats when she was a pup.

More recently Mrs Sparrowhawk sat in the tree at what we call "Squirrel Corner" (where the path over to Whirley goes through the kissing gate by the cottages and the squirrels congregate). There weren't many other birds about...

Yesterday morning we crunched through the ice on the path, played ball, DtD got muddy and needed a good wash when we reached home. This morning no ice but more mud! Dejected dog...

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