HUNGRY CATERPILLAR & A BREAK IN TRANSMISSION

My neighbour handed me this monster over the fence yesterday, attached to a dead weed. I put it in the border after photographing it and it had disappeared half an hour later. I think it's an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar; I'm sure some of you will be able to tell me one way or the other. What a fabulous creature.

I haven't taken the camera out walking for days now - too busy concentrating on sheep training with Jack. If I stop to take a picture, he could be off and up to mischief. Having said that, he really is an excellent pupil, particularly for a terrier. So these few shots are insects in the garden.....

These next three are pollinating our raspberries - thank you very much..... 

I had both dogs at the vet's yesterday to look at Snippet's infected cheeks and register Jack. Nearly £100 later, I have antibiotics, wormers and flea/tick stuff, plus the consultation for both of them. I had to ask for a carrier bag to carry it all. Here are few pics of them from this week so far. Jack is growing VERY fast.

Snippet in his viewing hole through the hedge to next door's dogs:

We leave for Essex very early on Saturday morning, returning late on Wednesday night. A whistle stop tour through Essex, taking in a wedding in Tilbury and a trip to Walton on the Naze, up to the Cambridgeshire Fens and then back down into East London to see the friends we visited last year who live near the Olympic park. The dogs are being looked after by a friend who will move in for four days and Trigger will be observed by friends who live next to his field. I will be providing them with a big bag of carrots in the absence of his usual feed. I can't really ask them to stand guard, fighting off the madams like I do. So - a break in transmission for a week at least. It will be strange photographing flat land but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Am struggling with what to wear to this wedding. No Bridesmaid's dress provided this time! I bought something about four months ago, which now looks very funereal quite frankly. I'll be trying to blend into the background anyway. Until next time, have a great week and here are my two boys. Oh - I forgot to mention, it's Snippet's birthday today! He's four. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SNIPPET. 

DODGY CHAFFINCH AND JACK'S WEEK SO FAR

I noticed this young Chaffinch about a week ago because of its strange colouring but assumed it would start changing like the other males. However, it doesn't seem to be happening. Instead of the usual glorious burglar-like mask, this boy is sporting less colourful look. He's also extremely cautious, and flaps around the feeder a lot, very rarely landing, so most of my pictures of him involve a flurry of wings. Maybe he is in fact a she.....only time will tell:

Here's a good one of the top of his strangely pale head:

                                     

Flapping around an equally dodgy looking Blackbird:

Most of my bird photos this week seem to involve flapping wings:

Jack is settling in incredibly well and is learning about the moor from Snippet. He has stolen his bed and my socks on a regular basis. I'm learning not to leave them at his level when changing from wellies to sandals. They make a great team.

Walking up to Kestor Rocks and back is a good distance for him at the moment and OB's friends like to go up there too, so he's been finding his inner goat.

The rodent hunting and digging instinct are pretty good already.

There's a lot of sleeping too. Going.........going.........

Gone.

The holidays continue to be a social whirl for OB, with me tagging along as taxi and secretary. I managed to miss a birthday party on Wednesday as sheer weight of writing on the calendar for that day obscured the afternoon's plans. OB was NOT happy. My holidays were nothing like this; days on end of solitude and making cardboard horses and intricate cardboard stabling for them and their two dimensional riders. Until next time, here are our lovely pair of dogs, noses to the ground as they should be. 

MEET JACK

So much for waiting till after we went away. This is Jack. On Saturday night, I was looking on all the doggy web-sites for puppies that would be ready the week we got back, and happened to see Jack. He was 13 weeks old and his owners had had to make the heartbreaking decision to find him a new home, as he didn't get on with their other dog. We talked about it overnight and, on Sunday morning, I emailed to see if he was still available. I talked to the owner in Somerset a couple of hours later and after some frantic phoning of potential house sitters when we're away, they agreed to stop in on their way to Cornwall to see if he and Snippet got on and to check us out too. I'm so glad they felt like that; some people might have just handed him over to anyone. That evening, they met in the rain and clicked. So Jack stayed. We are keeping in touch by email as they really miss him. I'm not surprised - he's a fantastic little dog: Patterdale with some Jack Russell. We really weren't expecting to have another dog so soon but sometimes that's the best way. Sorry If I haven't been posting or commenting over the last couple of days....it's been a bit frantic. Jack is pretty much house trained already and, thanks to it being summer, we can just leave the door open for him to trot in and out when he pleases. Here are some more pictures.....

A bit scared of the ponies at the moment

Follow my leader

In the stream

Given that he was already called Jack, we've been saved the endless arguments about names. OB would probably have wanted to call him Porsche, given his current obsession with cars and I had a dream some months ago that our next dog would be called Rye. Jack is FAR better and suits him fine. Until next time here he is looking particularly sweet with that curly tail.