Big event today was another dead mammal (sorry), this time a slightly squashed Hedgehog outside one of the driveways off the lane at the back of our house. Poor thing! The Mammal Trust UK thinks dead animals on roads are important indicators of local populations. They even have a “Mammals on Roads” project for recording sightings (although I would have to drive up and down the lane quite a few times to reach the 30 mile journey threshold required). Nevertheless, it was interesting to see it as I would guess Hedgehogs are at least as common as, say, Jackdaws, and yet in 10 years living here I’ve only seen one live one.
Mute Swans at Langbank sitting at 8 (unless some are hiding behind the roadside crash barriers).