Communal cats

 In our small flat, we're not allowed to keep a pet. We love cats, so we make up for our lack of cat by borrowing some of the many neighbourhood moggies.

There are four small black cats locally. This pic is one of the two who are brother and sister. We call them 'The Invisible Tabby' and 'The Invisible Tabby's Brother' because in sunlight they have subtle tabby markings.

Then we have another brother and sister pair - Earl and Assam. They have name tags and we approve of their names (named after types of tea) so they've stayed with their given names.

Earl is quite a lot smaller than Assam. They're both nice-natured animals who like cuddles and bits of string. I suspect they're Burmese.











This handsome ginger fellow we named 'Weasley' after the red-headed family in the Harry Potter books. We saw him a bit as a kitten but haven't seen him much since then. In fact this might be the only time he's been in. Either he's indoors a lot or just doesn't hang around near our flat.

We call this cat 'Fluffybum' because she's "so fluffy I could die!" and also she seems to suit a silly name.

She's a sweet little thing - very light and tiny under all that fur. She was being badly neglected by her divorcing family and is a bit skittish (though also affectionate and very playful). She has had a happy ending in that another local couple have adopted her. Now she is always beautifully groomed and looking healthy.

Another couple of gratuitous pics of Earl. This is last year when she battled and eventually defeated our Christmas tree. There wasn't anything delicate on the tree so we let her get on with it. (In spite of Earl being a male name, we think she's female cos she's so tiny).

A slightly younger Earl enjoying some strokes on the windowsill.

This cat we call 'Skinnytail'. It's a nasty creature, prone to chasing birds, fighting other cats and attacking the hand that feeds it cat treats.

This one might just be my favourite. We named him 'Cat Treats' because that's what we call to summon him. Also, he's so lovely and smoochy he's a treat for us. He has been known to roll around on the bed and nuzzle my nose with his nose. So sweet!

He's a Norwegian Forest cat with a big ruff and a foofy tail. His owners don't brush him enough so he gets matted fur. We occasionally have a go at snipping out the worst tangles. He's very trusting and quite happy to be groomed.


So, that's most of our neighbourhood cats. We are very lucky that we get visits to cheer us in our catless state.

A princess among cats

    

She was a princess among cats. In fact, when he got her, my besotted husband (actually he was my boyfriend at that stage) named her Princess Mao. Her middle name 'Bitey' came a bit later and for obvious reasons.

When she arrived home from the pet shop, she was grey with flea dirt. She'd just been brought into the shop from a neglectful home. She looked about 8+ weeks old but was actually about 12+ weeks. My mother-in-law donned rubber gloves and washed the poor little scamp in the sink. The gloves were no match for Princess's needle-sharp claws. 

Husband bought Princess at cat bed but from the beginning she slept on our bed. I used to wake up terrified that we'd smothered her by accident. I'd put my hand on her belly to feel if she was breathing and try to wake her up. It's quite hard to wake a cat from a deep sleep.

When she got a bit older, she'd take a few weeks sleeping on one of us then swap to sleep on the other one. When I lay on my side, she sleep on the curve between my hips and my ribs. Rolling over was a major operation, but I didn't mind because I loved her company. She was also constantly on my lap as I sat on the couch at night. I generally had a lap rug on me to protect me from kneading paws. If I needed to get up, I could just lift up the rug,

cat and all, then put it back down on the couch.

She was a clever cat - she taught herself to play fetch with shoelaces or toy mice. We'd spend ages throwing these things and her pouncing on them then trotting back with them in her little cat yap.

Princess wasn't much of a hunter, though. In our first flat together, we would occasionally get rats. One time she brought in a lightly wounded rat and let it go to run around the lounge. She totally ignored it while husband and I attempted to catch or kill that darn rat. We had a similar situation with a mouse in another flat - it was obviously not a well mouse because it was really slow but she didn't bother to catch it, she just watched as husband and I flailed around with the broom. Maybe this was her idea of fun!

Leaving her with my mother-in-law after twelve years together was the hardest thing about emigrating. She was our cat baby. Skyping a blur of beige fur just wasn't the same, though it was good to know that she was well looked after. Recently her health issues became too much and she had to be put down. Rest in Peace, Princess 'Bitey' Mao.

A brilliant South-West day out

We have a small flat so my lovely husband didn't want *stuff* for his birthday. I scouted around the internet for an experience to give him as a birthday present and settled on a Hawk Walk with West of England Falconry. Spoiler alert: it was amazing!

We lucked out with the most gorgeous warm spring day (after a week of grey, drizzly cold weather). We managed to navigate our way out to the the falconry centre located in a ridiculously beautiful Somerset village.

Jay (who runs the place) was friendly, relaxed and obviously knowledgeable.

We admired some of the various birds in their aviaries then got kitted out in falconry gloves and vests with bits of meat in one pocket. There were plastic gloves for the squeamish, but having brought up on a farm, I was comfortable picking up the meat with a bare hand.

We followed Jay and Mogwai the Harris Hawk on a short walk up a pretty woodland track to a field where we took turns to hold out food and have Mogwai swoop in from a tree to our glove.

As you can see, he is such a beautiful bird and such a gentleman (gentlebird?) that I never felt worried about having a bird of prey inches from my face. I even got to stroke his breast feathers. We probably over an hour in the field, enjoying the sunshine, admiring the beautiful rural views, chatting about local history and interacting with Mogwai as he got his lunch and some exercise.

Once back at the falconry centre, we were invited in to met Arthur, the young burrowing owl. Isn't he just the cutest thing?! Evidently he snuggles up on the couch with Jay when he's watching TV. I kind of really want a baby burrowing owl...

We left our car parked in the village and had a short scenic walk up the Bristol-Bath cycle path to an excellent local pub for a well-earned lunch.

It was a brilliant day out and best of all, it was much more reasonably priced than many other falconry experiences (which are also usually in groups).

So, if you're in the area, I recommend you book well ahead and experience an incredible day out!

Planning a trip to the UK?

I love Bristol!

A friend is coming to visit England in June and I've been excitedly giving her travel tips so I thought I'd toss my ideas out for you to play with.

Tip one: Public transport
Coming to England from some countries (like New Zealand) you might not be used there being as much public transport as there is here. I never used the train in New Zealand, whereas here it's often the best (if not cheapest) way of getting around.

Trains are generally the nicest way of travelling (as long as they're not packed commuter trains). They are substantially cheaper off peak, on weekends and if booking in advance (months in advance). Try the Trainline. Be aware that trains are sometimes cancelled or late so given yourself plenty of extra time if you're doing something time-critical, especially in winter.

Inter-city coaches are much cheaper than trains and fine if you're on a budget. They can be slowed down by traffic and they need to get a bit smelly and tiresome after several hours. I've used National Express coaches several times.

In London get an Oyster card and load it up so you can easily get around by tube, bus or train. I find the tube heaps easier and quicker than buses, although I'd suggest trying to avoid travelling at rush hour in central London as the natives get pretty shirty at anyone who isn't sure of where to go or isn't moving at top speed.

Tip two: Winter closing
It annoys me mightily, but lots of the National Trust properties and some of the English Heritage properties close during winter. Closing times vary from October late December to February or March. The lovely Welsh guys Cadw are better at staying open and they have amazing castles to visit just over the border from England.

Tip three: Sunday closing
Basically the best thing to do in England on a Sunday is have an enormous roast lunch at a pub then toddle off to Evensong at a cathedral. There's not much else to do* as shops are only open for about five hours and much of the public transport doesn't run.

Tip four: Where to go
Well, I think there's so much cool stuff that it'd take a lifetime to scratch the surface, but if I had to chose a few favourites...

• Bath - Georgian architecture, Jane Austen settings like the Pump Room and Sydney Gardens, lovely museum/art gallery called The Holburne, evidently the Roman Baths are great but I haven't been yet.
• Salisbury or Winchester - both cute small cities with a quaint old town centre. Salisbury has a deservedly famous cathedral while Winchester has the ruins of a castle with an old round table (the inspiration for Arthur's Round Table?)
• Cardiff - great shopping and eating and a lovely restored castle right in the middle of town. Also the Dr Who Experience for fans. 
• Pretty much anywhere in the countryside. You'll need a hire car, but there are different sorts of gorgeous scenery all over the place. The Cotswolds are a line of hills running through Oxfordshire. Gloucestershire and surrounds - they are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (it's a thing). The National Parks I've been to are lovely - Exmoor and the Brecon Beacons particularly. Pretty much the whole county of Dorset is stunning.
• York or Chester (but probably York) - medieval city walls in both, Roman ruins in Chester, Tudor houses and cute little shops in both, York Minster church.

You'll notice I'm not saying London. I think most of the touristy things you see in London can be replaced with similar things elsewhere that are less crowded and cheaper to get into. I do recommend Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but you'll have to book six months in advance to get in (worth doing nonetheless). The shopping in London is better than anywhere else in the country but Oxford Street is craaaaazy busy at peak times and some of the chain stores are overwhelmingly huge. I loved Kew Gardens.

I'm also not saying Bristol, even though I love living here. It is the best place to live in England and there is plenty for tourists to enjoy here, but it's not one of the top few tourist destinations in the UK. 

Also, I haven't yet been to Northern Ireland and I didn't looove Edinburgh. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Scotland so I'll let you know how I get on.

Tip five: A dearth of squirrels
British people don't seem to realise how cute their wildlife is and how much we foreigners would really like to see it.

You can go and see deer in deer parks and otters in WWT wetland centres (highly recommended), but there isn't really anywhere to see foxes and badgers and squirrels etc. I spent my first few trips to England staring at trees as I walked about but only saw about two squirrels in two weeks. If you want to see squirrels - go to a public park where people feed them and look on the ground as well as in trees.

Right, I think that'll do for now. Anyone got any other tips to share? Or any challenges to my admittedly biased viewpoints?

* This is a wild exaggeration.

Visiting the ponies of the British Isles

I've got a plan. My plan is to visit the different types of pony from around the United Kingdom.

Last year I saw Welsh Mountain ponies and their foals roaming around the Brecon hills. I tried to entice them over for cuddles with bits of muesli (granola) bar but they weren't keen. Still, they were very pretty to watch, especially the foals as they bounded over the grass.

I've discovered that you can go pony trekking in the Brecon Beacons so I expect I could pat a Welsh Mountain pony at the pony trekking establishment, even if the pony wouldn't be up to my weight for me to actually ride!

I've also seen semi-wild ponies roaming around the New Forest (which is confusingly mostly not forest these days and dates back over 1000 years). I didn't get to pat the New Forest ponies, but I'm a bit less interested in them as they're a less distinctive-looking breed compared to some of the other Mountain and Moorland breeds.

Anyway, my pony visiting plan was born on a recent trip to Exmoor. There was a lady riding an Exmoor pony around the village of Dulverton to promote the Exmoor Pony Centre. I got to pat the pony and I was enchanted. The pony was all shaggy with winter coat and it had the softest dusty coloured nose! So pretty!

I just noticed on the Exmoor Pony Centre website that you can adopt a pony. I think I might. What's 20 pounds for a year of virtual pony ownership? And it'd give me an excuse to go back to Exmoor as it was such a lovely place to visit. (Seriously, visit Exmoor, it's gorgeous!)

http://www.visitscotland.com/blog/scotland/shetland-ponies-in-cardigans/

Talking of lovely places to visit... I was lucky enough to have a Shetland pony as my first horse growing up in New Zealand. Well, sort of lucky. She was a bad tempered little thing who'd bite me as soon as look at me. Still, she taught me to stick on as she tried to brush me off against fence posts and by ducking under low hanging tree branches. She looked rather like the white cutie on the left from Visit Scotland's very successful marketing campaign. (Of course, I didn't put my pony in a giant cardigan - mainly because I didn't have a giant cardigan!)

Anyway, even having had a Shetland pony in New Zealand, I'd really like to go and see her Scottish cousins in their natural environment. People keep making TV shows with presenters exploring islands around the UK and they keep stirring up my desire to see the various islands. The Shetland Isles look like an amazing place to visit with their Norwegian heritage and unspoilt natural beauty.

I'd also really love to head down south again and visit the ponies on Dartmoor in Devon. Most of the bottom of quarter of England seems to be spectacularly beautiful, so it'd be nice to visit a new bit and get some pony spotting in while I'm at it.  (Note I say 'most'. There are some very dingy towns down the M5).  Dartmoor ponies are fairly rare, but hopefully I'd catch sight of one. And I could pop across and take in Tintagel Castle while I was in the area (another long-held  place on my travel wish list).

I'll let you know how I go with Dartmoor and Shetland this year!

Red kites rock the party!

I commute about 80 miles each way for work several times a week through lovely countryside. One of the treats of my drive is spotting wildlife as I drive along. I've seen wild deer, bunnies, pheasants and owls but one of the best animals is the Red Kite. In the last couple of days I've seen several pairs circling above the motorway. I just love how their wedge-shaped tails flick about in the opposite direction to their wings as they navigate the currents of the wind.

Still photos can't really do them justice as it's all about the size of them (they're quite large birds - with a wingspan of over a metre and a half or about 70 inches) and the graceful way they move. I found a short video for you to see...

 

I really enjoy the beautiful birdlife in England. We have bird feeders outside our window and as I type there are great tits, blue tits and collared doves hopping about the tree. If there's anything on earth cuter than a blue tit, I'd like to see it!

Although, there is a lot to be said for robins too and robins have a lovely song...

 

Evidently bird-watching is referred to as 'birding' or if you travel specifically to see birds; 'twitching'. I wouldn't say I'm actually a 'twitcher' but I do get a lot of pleasure out of admiring these lovely creatures. Actually, I did plan my summer holiday around seeing puffins so maybe I am dabbling in the deep waters of twitching! What do you think?