Eats plants
Daisy our hamster is dead. After Bella died earlier this month I decided I wasn't going to make the same mistake with Daisy and a few weeks ago I took her to the vet. It can be hard to tell when a hamster is unwell as they're out at night when we're asleep and both… Continue reading Another hamster death and the fox returns
The magpies and slugs now eat the food I leave out for the hedgehogs. I know because I leave the camera out on it overnight and there's very little activity from anything else. Something that did surprise me is how popular a bowl of water is. I was going to throw away a chipped pasta… Continue reading Feeding and bathing the birds
... seeing our first guest in the pond hotel. Can you spot him? We hope you liked it, Mr Toad!
Every morning now I wake up, check the wildlife camera with great excitement and see hedgehogs. The first one is usually seen around 10pm. Then there's often activity around midnight, 3am, and the last at around 6am. I have no idea how many there are as I only ever see one at a time so… Continue reading Hedgehog cam
There's still no sign of the elusive hedgehogs. I have no idea whether they're still in our garden or not. Hedgehogs can travel up to 2 miles in one night so probably they're not but I hope they visit us from time-to-time. I continue to put food out for them along with the wildlife camera… Continue reading Gardens as habitat for wildlife
We adopted two hedgehogs today from The North East Wildlife & Animal Rescue Centre. They put out a call recently on social media looking for homes for hedgehogs. They had 140 of them. To qualify for a hedgehog you have to provide them with a house in the backyard, food and water, live away from… Continue reading Meet Horace and Hortensia
When we first got hamsters I wasn't expecting to spend my evenings and weekends sniffing hamster bedding for hamster piss but this is what we do now. For a while Bella was peeing in a sand bath which was great as I didn't need to go searching for her toilet but she's stopped doing that… Continue reading Sniffing for hamster piss
We were all very excited to see a fox in our backyard today. We sometimes see foxes in the neighbourhood but this is the first time we've seen one in our yard. He was eating the peanuts from a bird feeder that had fallen to the ground. At first I thought it was a dog… Continue reading Fantastic Mr Fox
I got four leeks and lots of kale at my allotment today. There's still a number of leeks left; definitely enough to last us until spring. My pond is filled with leaves and I had this idea that I'd pull them out until I actually tried. They're frozen in! I took this video of it.… Continue reading Allotment produce in January and Veganuary
Are the hamster blog posts getting a bit boring? I'm sorry. I've just given Bella's house an extension and I want to give you a tour. Her house now has a third storey with a gym for exercise. Hopefully, this will help her slim down a bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxyuZ9vwxPQ
Victoria thinks the hamsters are getting too much attention. "What about me?" I took this video of Bella taking a walnut into her house. Bella is a bit on the chubby side. I'm hoping that with a bigger cage she'll get more exercise and slim down bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puFCk8SZIZU
Bella has a new environment. It's quite a unique-looking hamster habitat by Omlet. Omlet has put a lot of thought into the design and the bottom level is a deep drawer that you can fill with bedding. Hamsters like to dig burrows and most cages you buy at pet stores have a tiny tray at… Continue reading Bella’s home
A friend gave us their old hamster cage on the weekend so we decided to adopt a hamster. We found one looking for a new home and when we went to meet her we ended up leaving with two hamsters so we are now the proud adoptive parents - or Daniel and Elizabeth are -… Continue reading New furry friends
I have been more than a little moved over the past 24 - 48 hours by the plight of Pen Farthing and the Nowzad animal rescue team in Afghanistan. They appeared in the news several weeks ago with Pen Farthing, a former British marine who served in Afghanistan, saying he would not leave the country… Continue reading Escaping Afghanistan with 200 dogs and cats
Growing up in Australia has given me a healthy respect for dangerous wildlife. Sometimes it feels like every animal is trying to eat or poison you which is unsurprising given the country has more animals with deadly venom than anywhere else. I find it funny how the same animal in Scotland is relatively harmless. It's… Continue reading Levelling-up the animals
We got a kitten. Her name is Victoria and she's 11 weeks old. She came from a village in Aberdeenshire after her mother had an affair with the neighbourhood tom. We had planned to get an adult cat from a shelter but this is quite difficult it turns out. We put in five applications including… Continue reading Meet Victoria
Eating animals poses a major global health risk and the costs are enormous and they’re not borne only by the meat-eaters themselves nor by the animals but by everybody on the planet whether they eat meat or not. I say this because we’ve seen this over and over again that epidemics and pandemics have come… Continue reading The future of meat
This is Lola, a Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever crossed with a Poodle). She's a BorrowMyDoggy dog and her owner works every day so we give her exercise and company three days per week. We love having her. She's such a delightful dog; so clever and so calm and gentle. I'd trust her with a newborn. The… Continue reading Lola
It has been a while since we went out into the country for a Sunday outing because our weekends have been full of gardening, allotmenting, and kid activities. Today we had a free day and I decided to skip the allotment this weekend. I have had a helper sharing my plot and although she's done… Continue reading Willows Animal Sanctuary
I've haven't written much lately because I've been busy. Everyone is busy, I know. All the snow has melted here but it hung around for a long time. Usually when we get snow it's all gone within a couple of days. The chances of a white Christmas now are very remote. It looks like we'll… Continue reading Be kind to living things
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