I was watching a dove splashing about in the bird bath today, when it was joined by sparrow and a couple of starlings. The dove moved to the edge, tilted and raised one wing vertically like a yacht sail, so the splashing of the other birds washed its underside. It then repeated the process with its other wing. Never seen a bird do that before, it was fascinating.
The otter was in the stream last night making one heck of a racket. I got the torch and he knew, he just knew and laid low so I couldn't see him. As soon as I reached the patio doors he started up again. It was too cold to play that game & I left him to it.
I've just returned from inspecting the patio. It was all happening out there!
I could hearing this strange noise, a bit like a blackbird's warning cry so went up the path between the house and the garage to check it out. Peeping around the corner of the house was one of the twin Tom cats. As I approached Tom took off & Ruby shot out from under the car, to see it off no doubt. I followed and fortunately I moved into the path of the sensor light. I say fortunately because one more step forward and I would have kicked one of the two hedgehogs into touch. One took off (the male obviously), but the other one stayed put. I checked the lane to see that no Tom was lurking and then realised I had to make my way back up the drive in the dark and there was a hedgehog there somewhere. I took an age with baby steps to get to where the light activated. She was still there. As I opened the patio door to come back inside I heard something splashing in the river. I came inside & shut the door