Wildlife adventures in the Hollows

Hope you are all having the sort of lovely sunny weather that we're enjoying at the moment. I'm loving my walks in the sunshine.

We went down to Brook Hollows in Rolleston the other day. There were lots of ducks as usual - but I don't bother them, I'm too busy sniffing all the great smells.

The Lady Of The House was straining to get a picture of this lovely heron who was right over the other side of the water. She had her phoney-camera thing on bigify but this was the best she could manage.

While she was distracted with that, and I was busy sniffing, I heard a hissing noise and looked round.

Ooo-err! This swan had swum at top-speed right across the water to make sure we weren't going anywhere near his partner's nest. We weren't, because it was a long way across the water (like the heron) and we know they like to be left alone - but we didn't stay around to explain to him in case he came out of the water at us. He sounded very angry.

When we came out of the woods and on to the pavement, a couple of people out with their grandchildren asked the LOTH if we had seen a big black creature in the Hollows. They said they had seen it and it looked far too big to be a cat and far too slinky in its movements to be a loose dog. The man said he thought it might have been a panther (Ooo-err again!). But we think he was joking.

Even if it was a panther, I think Mr Swan might have been a match for him.

Scented scenic Saturday

It's lovely to see signs that Spring really is on the way as we walk round Rolleston and Stretton.

There's a real carpet of snowdrops down by Rolleston brook.

Hmmm. They smell quite nice too.

The Lady Of The House loved these baby daffodils that were peeking out - but she didn't get anything else in the shot (like me!) to show you how tiny they are. But they are really mini and sweet.

These purple crocuses (or is that crocusi?) are in our own front garden.

Hope you're getting the chance to get out and about and enjoy the smells and sights and sounds of whatever part of the world you are in.

Love and licks, Winnie.

Today I am again joining the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code  into the html editor of your own blog.  The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

Two new friends - but neither of them are ducks

There were lots and lots of ducks in Rolleston brook when we walked that way this morning.

The Lady Of The House likes them - I can take them or leave them.

Can we go now?

I enjoyed our morning walk earlier this week when I met a new friend called Lucy when we walked down the Kingfisher Trail.

From a distance, I thought Lucy looked a bit like me, but when we got closer I could see her ears were very different. Hers were quite feathery and hung down. She was actually a cross between a Saluki and a Lurcher. I would like to have shown you a picture of her...but the LOTH was so busy talking to the lady that Lucy owned that she forgot to take her camera out of her pocket.

Lucy's story was that she'd been adopted from kennels in Tutbury some years ago having been abandoned by travellers. She was very nervous at first and showed signs of having been treated harshly. She also has some scars on her front leg which look like they might have been barbed wire injuries.

Anyway, Lucy is a very pretty girl now with a happy life and clearly devoted to the lovely lady she owns. I hope we meet her again and if we do I'll nudge the LOTH and try and bring you a picture.

I also met a new virtual friend yesterday - Mayzie - and she is celebrating her first anniversary of blogging tomorrow (Jan 27) by trying to get as many people as possible commenting on her blog. For every comment she gets on that day's post her mum is going to give 25 cents to Second Chance Animal Rescue Foundation which rescued Mayzie.

So do pop across and say hello to Mayzie and add your comment tomorrow.