Holly and the berry

Cold and frosty morn on the Shroppie

Moored above Cholmondeston Lock

Iced in at Dokholm lock

 

This got me mad!

It's about grey squirrels! Some people hate detest them, others tolerate them and some even adore them. I'm one of those that love to see them but except that they could be a nuisance. As an animal lover I hate to see any animal tormented and what I saw today made my blood boil. Walking Jade this morning along the disused Nottingham canal, I came over Gadsby bridge and saw a man throwing sticks up into the branches while his dog, a crossbred lurcher type, was frantically trying to get at something in the tree. As I got nearer the man turned and saw me watching him. He then laughed and mentioned the squirrel on the branch above him. I asked him why he was throwing sticks at the creature, to which he replied ' they are nothing but rats and every last one should be killed'. I was utterly flabbergasted and said that the squirrel had every right to be left alone. He then spouted on about how they kill birds and are nothing but vermin and should be wiped out. So I asked him what he was trying to achieve by throwing sticks at it. 'Well', he said, 'if it fell out of the tree the dog would have a nice dinner'!!! To this I lost my rag and told him in no uncertain terms what a I thought of morons like him. What made it worse was his sickening smile as he said he would continue to try and get the squirrel for his dog. That was it as far as I was concerned. No way was I leaving that spot for him to continue tormenting the poor squirrel and so started taking photos of the squirrel and said I would also take photos of him if he continued. With that, and still laughing, he walked off. I stayed for well over 10 minutes to see if he would return. Thankfully I didn't see him again. In the meantime the squirrel was so traumatised it never moved from it's spot in all the time I was there.  Now all you reading this may disagree with my opinion and feel that the man was right in what he was doing. I have read an article ( click here ) which does indeed confirm what he said about them taking eggs out of the nest and also killing the chicks. But so does Magpies, crows, hawks, ravens, other mammals etc so, should they also be killed??? You must remember that it was man that introduced them to Britain, and yes they can kill birds and yes they can destroy saplings of some trees and yes they have almost wiped out our native red squirrel, but they have also only ever done what other introduced animals, birds and insect had done, adapted to their environment and made this country their home! 

Frozen dew drop

Flight of a Black headed gull

Did I say you could bathe here?

Welcome 2013

Early morning pike fishing

Well, well, well!

We have just been handed the Towpath Talk by Paul and Christine Nb Patience and there, on page 92, was an article  written by Helen Gazeley about useful boaters blog links. Not only are we mentioned but so is Heth on Takey Tezey, Yvonne nb Fizzical Attraction, Sue nb Indigo Dream, Kathrine nb Leo No2, Mike nb Rose of Arden and Tom on nb Waiouru. Wow......... our name in print. I wonder if we will be mobbed by the masses?????

Today's photo:-

Meet Robbie the cantankerous Robin

Through the hedge

A truly European Christmas

Arrived back at the boat last night after a very memorable Christmas. Our daughter in law Iwona's parents were over from Poland and gave us there version of a Polish Christmas.  Christmas eve is the traditional time for presents and Christmas dinner in their country so after Vwacha ( Iwona's mum ) had slaved most of the day in the kitchen, we eventually sat down to  beetroot soup and pirogi ( meat pasta) for starters, followed by fish ( should be carp but had fried cod instead ) with pickled cabbage, mushrooms, gherkins and a mountain of boiled spuds. Then for desert, a pie consisting of layers of pastry filled with cherries and custard then baked in the oven. Delicious. The grandkids opened a few presents that night but the majority was saved for Christmas day when Santa was due to call. After the grandkids had gone to bed Kevin ( Christine's partner ) got out the talc and cardboard feet and made Santa's footprints leading from the garden door to the tree with all the presents underneath, then to a table consisting of a sausage roll ( no mince pies! ),  glass of milk and a carrot for Rudolph, and finally out through the conservatory door. I think us adults enjoyed this part of Christmas most as there was much hilarity when giving out instructions of where and how the footprints should be placed.

 To make sure we were all up before the kids, we set the alarm for some silly o clock and crept downstairs ready with the camera to capture Oscar and Josh's faces when they saw the footprints and all the presents under the tree.

It was a great success especially when they saw the footprints, and soon paper and cardboard was flying in all directions revealing loads of toys.

Utter devastation and mayhem but so enjoyable.

We couldnt leave the dogs out so they also got a gift from Santa,

Christmas pudding tennis ball for Jade

and for Echo, a turkey squeaky toy.

 Then it was our turn to do the traditional Christmas meal and judging by the empty plates of Iwona's mum and dad, they enjoyed it to!. All in all we had a fabulous time with our family but as much as we enjoy Christmas I'm glad its only once a year.

Redwing amongst the Hawthorn

ice droplets on grass seed

Happy Christmas to one and all.

And a Happy New Year.

Idylic mooring on the Llangollen

All alone in the ice

Wall flowers by Frankton staircase locks.

Unfortunately due to an excessive amount of spam comments, I have had to enable the comment moderation and word verification. I still love to read your comments and hope this doesn't cause to much of a problem......... and now for today's picture.

Siskins feeding on pine seeds

Blue tit amongst the frost