Feeling the Thaw

After a couple of weeks of cold, snowy weather, yesterday saw the temperature rise to 7C. The sun came out to reveal blue sky and it was actually warm sitting in the sun. It was also warm enough to quickly thaw areas where the sun's rays touched the warming earth even as you watched. It was almost as if you could feel the thaw.

I managed to get out only if it was just to crawl and then sit on top of the badger sett for half and hour and view the surrounding fields. The smell of the sett was quite overpowering and I'm sure I could detect the pungent, musky smell of fox as well as badger. The melting snow hadn't revealed too many tracks but I still managed to see some badger tracks. I also noticed some rabbit droppings at the entrance to some of the holes. That makes at least three species of mammals in one sett or den.

My next drop off point was an area of waste ground just outside the local woods. I was forbidden to enter the woods as I had no waterproofing on the cast, so I had to be content with sitting on a small mound just outside. Nevertheless, I had a view of the remnants of a snowy area shaded from the sun and therefore had not yet thawed. I noticed that a hare had passed that way at one time. I also noticed a strange set of tracks that had me puzzled for a bit. It took me a while to realise what they were and I'll leave you to have a guess at it for a couple of days.

I could hear a lot of activity in the woods, but they were mainly the rooks working on their roosts. I did hear a couple of gulls flying over squawking as they went.

 

It was a short and uneventful little outing, but even so I had noticed quite a few things going on without actually seeing anything moving. Of course this is one of the benefits of a sit-spot where you can allow not just your eyes but all your other sensory organs to work in order to collect up anything happening or that has happened around you.

In this respect I had a distinct advantage today over any other day in the past. I've increased my capability in a number of sense  areas. How have I done this? Well, I'll leave that explanation for another day.