Taexalia

wild.life

Snow Secrets: Signs and Symbols

This morning the Greyhound and I decided to take ourselves out of the village and walk out to the Crow Tree. Having navigated the High Field, we crossed the road and squeezed through the gate. Here the path had not been trampled by many people and dogs, here there were only one set of human tracks and the tracks of a very large dog walking in the opposite direction to the one we were travelling in. This bode well for a peaceful, private adventure.

The track travels adjacent to an old horse field here, with a crumbling old wall and several gaps where you can join this path from the paths that cross the field towards The Binn. The last gap gave up the secret of the boot prints - someone had clambered over here and walked back towards the village. We paused for a moment before stepping onto path where no human or dog had travelled since Thursday, it was here that I cursed my new habit of forgetting my camera in the dance of coats, boots, gloves and treats. I apologise for the quality of iPhone pics - feel free to complain to Apple.

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These steps are familiar to us, but with the snow covering they give up their secrets and confirm what we have been guessing at over recent months. Fox tracks, rabbit prints, and other feetsies abound. We feel a little guilty stepping into the story with our ungainly big footfalls. Then we feel part of it - the Greyhound gets his nose to the ground, drinking up the scents held more potent in the snow.

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We come to a point where the path turns a corner and I decide to leave a few crumbs on the tall fence post for the robins I have seen flitting about. As I sprinkle them, I notice the snow has been disturbed by something. Looking more closely, I see some fur remnants - and just at that moment the Greyhound becomes engrossed in something attached to the fence, half way down the post.

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I persuade the Greyhound not to eat this little sliver of gutsy leftovers and he turns his attentions to the ground where he discovers more remnants of fur. We have a little tussle as he gets very excited about trying to eat these and I give up on the idea of trying to take a crap iPhone pic of a bit of dead rabbit fur. I imagine the Buzzard who dined here...

We move on and the snow gives up more secrets - the path is never free from fox and rabbit tracks and there are tracks that look like something smaller - a polecat perhaps. Then the Greyhound becomes very interested in something... and I become interested in the path just in front of us... something happened here - but what? we wonder...

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And further along we come upon a new set of tracks - hares have been here. We are not so surprised since I have spotted a hare in this area in the past..

Snow Tracks Brown Hare

Wandering on towards the Crow Tree, the tracks lessen and soon we are simply following a lone fox, interrupted occasionally by busy rodents who crossed the path back and forth.

Red Fox (vulpes vulpes) snow tracks

Then it is time to turn homeward and retrace our steps...

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Remembering to look up sometimes, we see Kestrel, Buzzard, Peregrine, Heron, Curlew and Crow. We ask for more snow and later we get it - perhaps in the morning we will be out at first light to explore again...