Encountering something unexpected is always a joy especially when it is in nature and in your own back garden. I’ve written of our back garden before which can be found here. As you can see from the pictures there they show that the garden isn’t particularly wild.
One big thing which has changed from the original pictures is the big Horse chestnut (
Aesculus hippocastanum) is no more. It’s in a different form – but it would be wouldn’t it! (Warning British pun). The landlady took the executive decision of having it cut down.
One Sunday recently I was finishing the washing up and witnessed some activity which caught my attention – magpies (Pica pica) on alert? A magpie, if you are unfamiliar with, especially if reading from other parts of the world looks like this:
My wife calls them The Mafia as they throw their weight around getting up to lots of mischief!
One magpie was by the fence hopping along. Nothing much to alert me at that point. The one on the shed roof was cocking their head on their side looking down. As there was another one in the background those two things made me pay attention. I turned away for one moment and then back to see the shed roof magpie on the ground. It was approaching something brown which was by the right corner of our shed. In a split second the thought crossed my mind of going outside to rescue it. At first I thought it was a downed song thrush but that all changed.
Surrey WilDLIFE TRUST
In that one moment the situation changed. Up popped a little head. My mind was reeling – No way! I thought. I yelled to my wife. “There’s a weasel” (Mustela nivalis). I could hardly get the words out! She was in the front room of the house and was saying as she moved closer – ” You’re kidding me?!”
The weasel chased by the magpie ran across the lawn into the Crocosmia by the fence – paused and then continued running across to the neighbours and under their trampoline. Magpie still following but somewhat not too committed. We managed to go outside and watch the rest from the garden.
The weasel went behind the neighbours shed and I couldn’t see it. Debbie then spotted it coming out the other side. The magpie was “shack-shacking”. The weasel disappeared again. I thought we’d seen the last of it. Suddenly nearer the house, out popped a little quizzical head from under the neighbours garden table which was covered. It watched us, we watched it. At that point it was nearer to our house than we were.
Debbie in the meanwhile had tried to get the kids to come and see it. It’s not often one sees a weasel let alone in your own backyard! Sadly we didn’t see anymore and the magpies had given up at this stage.
It wasn’t until later I thought I could have filmed it on my phone but I was caught up in the moment enjoying it. I didn’t want to lose sight of the critter.