owl

Big hedgehog in garden. Wispa as usual wants it to come in and live with us. Gave it the kitten food recommended by our local hog rescue, well soaked.

Hi Pingu, good to see you 🖐️ Yantan that sounds an acceptable wardrobe. You could have velvety trousers, that would be sort of evening dress. We had a pleasant walk on the reserve, I took some things to the tip which is close to the reserve, and I put washing through as it has been a very good drying day. Couch potato for the evening now.

Sorry mum 🙄 will log off and go to sleep now.

An uphill day better luck tomorrow. I did a bit too much yesterday, feeling invigorated by t,he good weather, and have been wiped out today. Whichever Fugee told me not to overdo it was right.

I did the Bishops Rock lighthouse mail trip on my first trip, and likewise the mail had to be delivered that way as choppy.

There are water taxis in the summer. Some of the birders I know from the reserve make trips there to see rare birds. The only way I could stay there would be to camp. Self catering is too expensive for solo travellers. I went there with parents in 1964 when I was at uni, then around 1970 when I stayed in farmhouse B&B, then camping on St Agnes in 1976.

Spring equinox and a bit fat supermoon around half one tonight/tomorrow,

That is progress anyway. Warm sunny day here. We were out early as a guy who is in my bird group asked for help. His escape artist German pointer had beetled off in the night when not wearing collar and ID. As soon as we got there a call came from vet that the naughty fellow had been handed in. And the fence has to be raised yet another metre ... I swear that dog can levitate himself. So we didn't need to work and had a nice woodland walk instead. Came home, did washing and it dried off well on line, Temp up to 16 with a nice breeze. After that I went out for a ride on my bike and am now enjoying a glass of beer. OK the bike has no pedals and the beer has no alcohol but who cares?

The Beast from the East could have hit anywhere, but at least you had more than 4 hours of daylight. That would be my problem with Orkney in winter. Snow is extremely rare on Scilly, isn't it? You were most unfortunate. Which island were you staying on?

My ideal place ... would need to think about that one. Orkney for summer and Scilly for winter would be my ideal. Failing that I would just like somewhere next to the reserve.

The Travellers Rest was only just getting into serious food catering about the time I left Apperknowle area. That is a very generous serving even by local standards. Meeting went OK except I got a horrendous leg cramp half way through and had to leave for a bit until it went away. I was relieved to find out that discussions and plans are already under way about the mink, but that was at a higher level and we on the ground were not aware. Unfortunately there is nowhere that mink can be released where they would not cause an eco crisis. They eat everything and have no predators or real competitors. Otters will push them out of an area but we have none on the reserve as far as we know. In their native habitat of North America and Canada, the environment is harsher in winter and there are other predators and competitors so not so many survive. Here in UK they just multiply. So they have to be trapped and very quickly shot at point blank range with an air pistol. The traps have electronic signals so it is known immediately when one is caught. I don't like the idea but they wipe out populations of waders, ducks, any bird near water, and are mainly responsible for the near extermination of water voles. We have a few bitterns and water rail breeding on the reserve and need to protect them.

It was a mixture of deliberate releases and escapes which caused mink to spread everywhere. They are real escape artists. No, I will not overdo things and am having an early night.

I am somewhat better today and think I will be OK for the meeting as long as I have a glass of water to hand. Two of the things I need to talk about could be dealt with on my behalf by the chair of the meeting who is very competent, but the third will be something no one wants to address so I would not ask anyone else to bring it up in a meeting. In this case it is not the elephant in the room but the squillions of mink on the reserve. There have always been a few but now there has been a population explosion.

We had a nice day here though very breezy, with just a shower at midday. I did get out to the reserve and Wispa had a good run offlead. Took a flask with me instead of dropping into the visitor centre for tea, as am trying to keep bugs to myself, and not fit for decent company. Still coughing, sneezing, eyes streaming, all worse indoors. It had better improve by Tuesday as we have a big meeting of wardens and there are subjects I need to talk about.

Busy bee Jazz.