Goodbye, Angelina

We buried our hamster Angelina yesterday. Her death came as a surprise. I honestly thought Lucille would die first. I’m not sure how old Angelina was as we rescued her a year ago but until this week she seemed pretty well. However prey animals are good at hiding illness. She died peacefully in her sleep. I knew she was dead when I woke up and found the broccoli and strawberry I’d put out for her the night before still there. Angelina was a lovely, gentle little thing. We will miss you. Sleep well, little Angelina.

I don’t think Lucille will be with us for much longer. She’s over two now and already had a near death experience when she had a tumour removed 18 months ago. She still runs on her wheel but she looks more arthritic and not as fast as she once was. I thought about moving her to Angelina’s old cage which is bigger but then I decided that as an elderly hamster who’s not as agile any more she probably prefers the familiarity of her current home and the ease of getting around that it affords.

We all felt the need for a walk in the countryside after the sad events of the morning so we spent the afternoon wandering around the grounds of Crathes Castle.

This is the dovecote in the castle garden.

The roosting holes are blocked up now so pigeons can’t fly in but this is what they were originally built and used for – to house pigeons.

Aside from these gorgeous highland cows I was surprised by how little wildlife we saw. I expected to see lots of birds in the castle gardens but I didn’t see a single one. I’m so used to our zoo of a backyard and I expected someone rural to have more wildlife than we do in the centre of town but that was not the case.

As we were driving home we passed a squashed oystercatcher on Great Southern Road on the south side of the river. I hate when people run over animals and leave them to get flattened over and over like a pancake. So I walked back to prise if off the road and lay it in some nearby vegetation. The bird was still warm. If you kill an animal with your vehicle it’s your responsibility to remove it from the road. I realise it might not be safe to do this on a motorway but this was not a motorway and there were plenty of places nearby to stop. To the person who did that to this oystercatcher yesterday: I hate you and you’re a bastard. On the plus side it was quite a nice walk across the river as all the daffodils are out and there are a lot of them. This is Great Southern Road, Aberdeen just before the bridge.