By now I take it you will be aware that I have a great fondness for nature in general and wildlife in particular.
When I was little we had a Welsh collie called Scrap and I thought the world of him. He had been part of the household long before I arrived, in fact before my sister and brother arrived.
Scrap was fun, we used to play together, indoors it would be a sort of wrestling match or a tug of war with his rubber ring. Outside I would play fetch with him and he never seemed to tire.
We also had a cat, called Smokey, but he spent most of the day asleep and most of the night on the prowl.
I even kept mice for a while. Not just white or brown but others with more fascinating furs, a silver fox (very light grey), piebald (brown and white) and even a sable (black). Cross breeding proved interesting and if they bred too fast the local pet shop were always asking for mice (hopefully to sell on but they might have had snake-owning customers in need of live food for all I knew).
Growing older I took an interest in horses and used to enjoy an early Sunday morning gallop on Rhyl beach or a couple of circuits of the showjump course at the stables.
I really did enjoy riding, and took it up again when we lived in Australia, but I was never interested in anything more than healthy exercise on horseback. I would never, ever have gone fox hunting.
Over the years there have been many animals in our life. An Australian galah; a lorakeet which I rescued from local cats in Australia when I found it in our yard; an Australian terrier; a Shih Tzu and a Manchester terrier cross collie; the flying foxes or fruit bats, that favoured our mango tree at night; cane toads; and the birds that have always visited our garden wherever we are, and know they will always find food and water.
There are animals I have never liked – mainly cane toads (the most loathsome-looking creature you have ever seen) and rats. Can’t stand them.
Then there are those I have come to hate over time – CATS.
More about rats and cats later.
Robin's Nest 